RI among Asia's major sugar buyers
RI among Asia's major sugar buyers
BANGKOK (Reuters): Indonesia, Pakistan and China are likely to
be Asia's major sugar importers in 2001 due to shortfalls in
domestic production, traders in the region said on Friday.
Indonesia and Pakistan are in the market now, mainly for
shipment in the first half of 2001, while China is expected to
emerge as a buyer in the second half of the year.
Indonesia, southeast Asia's largest sugar importer, is
expected to import between 1.2-1.5 million tons of sugar, mainly
whites, because of domestic supply shortfalls.
"Indonesia still needs to import sugar due to production
shortfalls in the country," said B.N. Shaikh, a leading
Indonesian importer at PT. Al Khaleej Sugar based in Jakarta.
Pakistan is expected to import as much as 800,000 tons, both
raws and whites, traders said.
India is likely to have the edge over Thailand in securing
Pakistani orders due to its geographical advantage.
However, Pakistan's sugar industry has recently asked the
government to raise the import duty on sugar and to ban sugar
imports from India, trade sources say. Some millers have asked
the government to look into whether India is dumping cheap
supplies into Pakistan.
A ban would be a blow for India's efforts to trim its almost
10 million ton stockpile by exporting sugar, traders said.
An agriculture ministry official said Pakistan was monitoring
domestic sugar prices but had taken no decision.
China was expected to buy up to one million tons of raws.
"People are still saying China will be buying sugar, and for
shipment in the second half of the year," said one Singapore-
based trader at a major trading firm.
Another trader said: "China will stop crushing in the next few
months and its production is not estimated to be too good... That
is another signal that they have to buy."
Japan and South Korea are not expected to increase the volume
of their routine imports, traders said.
The countries each import around one million tons of the
commodity annually. They are estimated to have already bought up
to 70 percent of their local demand for shipments in the first
half of the year.
Amid looming demand from Asia, sugar output in some major
producing countries was estimated to be lower than previous
years, traders said.
"Brazil's crop is tight, also the Australian as well as the
Thai crop," said a trader at a major trading firm.
Brazilian sugar was facing difficulty penetrating the region
this year compared with past years, due to tight supplies at home
and higher freight rates because of stronger oil prices, traders
said.
"I would say that South American origins are facing more
difficulty than the past few years to find destinations in Asia
due to relatively higher prices," said a trader.
Thailand's 2001 production is forecast at around 5.1 million
tons in raw value, against 5.28 million tons in 2000.
Australia's 2001 production is estimated at around 4.5 million
tons, higher than the previous disastrous 2000 crop of 4.15
million tons, but still lower than the country's average
production levels.
In the region, Australian sugar usually arrives in the market
in the second half of the year, while Thai sugar is abundant from
the beginning of each year as the country normally starts
crushing sugarcane around mid-November.
Australia and Thailand are the major suppliers of sugar in
Asia.
Traders said that due to the attractive global price, Thai
farmers were expected to grow more sugar in the next 2001/2002
crop year. The planting season would start soon after the
crushing season finishes in mid-April.
"Sugarcane farmers are a very price-sensitive group. they
always grow more crop whenever they think the price is good,"
said a Thai trader.