Australian and Thai sugar remain unchallenged in their traditional East Asia markets, despite claims by India that its big surplus might penetrate the region, the head of Australia's main raw sugar exporter told Reuters.
"The consumption in Asia and the demand in Asia from our regular customers is very good and strong and we can sell all the sugar we have into those markets," Queensland Sugar Ltd chief executive Ian White said on the sidelines of the World Beet and Cane Growers Conference.
India's Minister for State for Agriculture and Food, Achilles' Prasad Singh, said at the conference on Monday that Indian sugar exports could double next year to 3 million tonnes and that 1.1 million tonnes had been sold in the current year to September 30.
This is a marked change for India, where large recent crops have pushed it onto export markets. An increase in regional refinery capacity, including in Australia's next-door market Indonesia, has also caused a switch by India to exports of raw, from limited exports of low-quality white sugar in the past.
White said he saw India as a potential competitor in East Asia, but was also sceptical about Singh's comments. "They've really only (sold) a small quantity and that's been around their local region," White said of Indian exports.
"Typically they haven't been able to export large quantities and I would think 3 million tonnes would be a very large quantity for them to export," White said.
Indian raw could still penetrate Indonesia, despite the great freight advantage, which Australia has in supplying its neighbour. But the Southeast Asian country's demand for low-quality Indian white sugar had dried up with an increase in refining capacity, and India would have to satisfy a newly discerning demand for quality, White said.