There is a wait and see approach among Asian sugar buyers as producing countries bring in their new crops a little slower than expected. The harvest in China and Thailand is expected to start a few weeks later than usual while rain in India has delayed crushing in some states.
Traders said Pakistan has already purchased enough sugar to meet demand for Ramazan and prices have dropped by about 4 rupees to 24 rupees a kilo this week.
"Their sugarcane crop is also ready for harvest and the domestic prices have already dropped," said Yakin Wadhwana, a sugar trader. "Now, they will buy only in the next calendar year."
High sugar prices in Thailand may prompt Indonesia to look for the sweetener as far as South Africa. It has import permits for 300,000 tonnes under a 2006 quota.
"It could be India or South Africa, we will see which one is the best and the cheapest," said Adagio Suwandi, corporate secretary at plantation PTPN XI, which is allocated 53,500 tonnes.
Indonesia, Southeast Asia's top sugar buyer, plans a joint tender to buy 190,000 tonnes of white sugar on November 15 for deliveries between mid-December to March.
Jakarta has also appointed two state firms to buy another 110,000 tonnes on Wednesday PT Perusahaan Perdagangan Indonesia and Bulldog each for 55,000 tonnes for delivery between December 1 to April 30. The latest permit marks are the last of Indonesia's licenses for 2006.
Indonesian permit holders said they have begun talking with China, Brazil and Thailand on sugar shopping but are facing high prices and want deals that do not exceed $0.55 a kg.
Heavy rain in Thailand, Asia's largest exporter of raw sugar, is expected to delay the country's cane harvest for a few weeks.
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