State-run Thai Cane and Sugar Corp (TCSC) will open a tender to sell 96,066 tonnes of 2008/09 raw sugar next week, a senior TCSC official said on Monday. The tender would be held on August 7 for both J-spec, a low quality raw sugar mostly sold to Japan, and high-quality Hi-pol raw sugar, the official said. Thailand allocates about 800,000 tonnes of raw sugar each year for TCSC to sell.
Half of it is sold through tenders to international trading firms and half to domestic mills for export. The TCSC decided to sell before the harvest in November 2008, hoping to get prices in line with rising New York prices, which set global trends. The October raw sugar contract climbed 0.20 cent to finish at 12.44 cent per lb on Friday due to investment fund and consumer buying as the market extended its rebound from a fall last week. Thailand's 2008/09 cane crop will be harvested in November and is crushed over a season expected to end in April 2009.