Thai depressed by RI's delay of sugar shipment<\/p>\n
BANGKOK (Reuters): The Thai white sugar market was depressed
\nby market talk that Indonesia had delayed shipments of 100,000
\ntons of sugar from Thailand due to economic turmoil, trade
\nsources said.<\/p>\n
Trade reports South Korea sold back up to 200,000 tons of
\nsugar from Guatemala to traders due to the economic crisis also
\ndepressed the market further.<\/p>\n
Sources said even though the contracts were not canceled, the
\ntalk of delay -- from January to March and April -- sent negative
\nvibes through a sensitive market which has been jittery about the
\nimpact of the regional crisis on consumption of sugar.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has already bought 700,000-800,000 tons of white
\nsugar from Thailand but a big chunk of the contracts are yet to
\nbe executed, they said.<\/p>\n
\"We are checking around for confirmation. The news was
\nnegative because the delay indicated that there could be some
\nproblems on the Indonesian side,\" said a dealer with a major U.S.
\ntrading house.<\/p>\n
\"The market paid a lot of attention because Indonesia is a big
\nbuyer. It could be the biggest buyer this year in the absence of
\nChina, and South Korea has already bought a lot from South
\nAmerica,\" he said.<\/p>\n
China, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan were among major
\nbuyers of Thai sugar.<\/p>\n
But the shipment during the first half of this month seemed to
\nmove smoothly. Shipping sources told Reuters that offtake from
\nIndonesia this month was active.<\/p>\n
Vessels were shipping 60,550 tons of white sugar to the
\ncountry between Jan 11-16, they said. Louis Dreyfus and Tate and
\nLyle were among buyers.<\/p>\n
The white premium of Feb\/March delivery was offered at $15 per
\nton over London futures but without bids.<\/p>\n
The raw sugar market was quiet in the absence of demand. Thai
\nraw premiums for February\/March shipment were flat. March\/May was
\nquoted around 10\/20 points over New York's Coffee Sugar and Cocoa
\nExchange.<\/p>\n
May\/July was offered 35\/40 points over CSCE without any bid,
\ntrader said.<\/p>\n
A trader from one prominent Japanese house said Korea has
\nalready sold back 200,000 from 250,000-300,000 tonnes of raw
\nsugar it bought earlier from Guatemala.<\/p>\n
But another trader from a European house said he heard the
\nsell-back was only 30,000-40,000 tonnes although there has been
\nattempt to sell more.<\/p>\n
\"This report is a double-edged sword for Thai sugar. If South
\nKorea did really sell back, the question is whether it will buy
\nfrom Thailand immediately to cover this amount,\" said a sugar
\nmill executive.<\/p>\n
\"If it does, good for us. But if they sold because of short-
\nterm financial hiccups and have no intention to buy any time
\nsoon, there will be too much sugar sitting there in the market to
\ndepress everybody, us included,' he said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/thai-depressed-by-ris-delay-of-sugar-shipment-1447893297",
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