Russian sugar imports are likely to stay weak despite soaring domestic prices, merchant Czarnikow said on Friday. Russia is the world's biggest raw sugar importer. A drawdown in domestic stocks has led to a sharp rise in local prices, which are now at around $100 per tonne premium to import parity, Czarnikow said in its latest monthly report.
"While at first glance this may appear attractive, given that Russian beet factories are preparing for the domestic beet campaign that starts in August/September, imports are likely to remain weak," the London-based group said.
The first refinery in Russia is scheduled to open on July 27, an analyst with a Western trade house said.
A couple more will open the first week of August. The Russians expect softer domestic markets much earlier than last season, the analyst added.
Raw sugar imports to Russia were slow during the second quarter of 2006, and down on the same period last year, Czarnikow said.
Russian sugar prices have surged 15 percent since late June.
Svetlana Abuzarova, analyst at the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies, said white sugar prices in the benchmark Krasnodar region rose to $808 a tonne as of July 13 from $762 on July 7 and $744 on July 4.