Manila rejects bids for 80,000 tonnes sugar

Philippine sugar millers and planters on Monday rejected bids for up to 80,000 tonnes of raw sugar for August/December export due to low prices, an industry official said.
Jose Maria Zabaleta, executive director of the Philippine Sugar Millers Association, said firms had been unable to sell because bids had fallen short of the expected price of at least 8.2 US cents per pound.
He added that the bid was being left open and that firms hoped to find buyers within the next 2 weeks. Local firms will wait "until a better price can be secured to meet its expectations", Zabaleta said.
The sugar is for export to markets other than the United States. The Philippines hopes to lure buyers in neighbouring countries because of tight supplies from traditional regional exporters Thailand and Australia, he said.
Last week, Zabaleta said his group would not sell at below 8.5 US cents per lb. "Three international trading firms submitted prices equivalent to below seven US cents per lb," another industry official, which requested not to be identified, told Reuters.
The same official said the three firms submitted bids of between 420 pesos ($7.5) and 426 pesos ($7.6) per 50-kg bag as against domestic prices of 760 pesos and 800 pesos. "Local firms are really exporting at a loss. The price consideration is secondary," the same industry official said.
The volume is part of 367,000 tonnes of sugar the country plans to export in the 2004/2005 crop year starting in September to reduce surplus stocks in the face of prospects for another bumper crop.
The Philippines, which sold sugar in Asia for the first time in a decade this year, planned to ship up to 230,000 tonnes in the region and other markets in 2004/2005.
The exports were on top of the 137,000 tonnes covering the country's annual export quota to the United States. The Philippines exported about 60,000 tonnes of raw sugar to China, South Korea and Japan this year.
It also got a quota to deliver 137,300 tonnes of sugar to the United States, its former colonial ruler, in the 2003/2004-crop year.
A programme that sets prices for developing countries above the world market price determines exports to the United States.