Thai sugar exports dropped 21.8 percent in July from a year earlier as high prices curbed buying, traders and officials said on Friday. Thailand's January-July sugar exports were at 2.98 million tonnes, down 2.7 percent from a year-earlier when it sold 3.07 million tonnes, they said.
Prices started rising in July as news of weak Indian sugar production stoked fears of a widening world sugar deficit and triggered speculative buying on the New York raw sugar futures market, which sets global trends. The London-based International Sugar Organisation (ISO) has forecast a global sugar deficit of 8.4 million tonnes in 2009/10.
New York raw sugar touched a 28-year high in mid-August before climbing further to a 28-1/2 year high last week at 24.85 cents per lb. Prices have corrected since then to settle at 21.79 cents per lb on Thursday.
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