China's sugar imports in June nearly tripled from the same month a year ago to 239,673 tonnes as buyers took advantage of cheap global prices, customs data showed on Tuesday. China, one of the world's top sugar importers, has boosted its buying this year after a large gap opened up between cheap overseas prices and comparatively expensive domestic sugar.
Global sugar prices are hovering around a 6-1/2 year low, with huge stocks in countries like Thailand and India. China's domestic prices, meanwhile, have been buoyed by government curbs on imports aimed at protecting domestic sugar mills and a sharp drop in local output, leading to profit margins of about $270 per tonne of imported sugar.
June imports rose 190 percent on a year earlier but were still less than half the volumes of the previous month, after some cargoes were delayed, said a trade source who declined to be identified. Late arrivals will see July shipments pick up again, the source added, adding that imports would be much higher without an unofficial agreement made by refiners to limit their imports to reduce the impact on domestic sugar mills.
"For sure, the policy is working," he said. "Without this agreement imports this year would be at 6 million tonnes." Imports in the first six months of the year totalled 2.3 million tonnes. With Chinese domestic output expected to continue to decline in the upcoming crop year, some industry figures expect the country to overtake Indonesia as the world's top sugar importer in 2015/16.
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