Return
to Story Page
To print: Select File and then Print from your
browser's menu
Kenneth Barry
Hong Kong, Dec 9: A rise in Thai raw sugar premiums, helped by a farmers' protest over government prices, would probably not last long, traders said on Wednesday.
Thai sugar was benefiting from temporary tightness in supply due to fears of a delay in crushing and cutbacks in Australian sugar exports due to bad weather, traders said.
Sugar planters in Thailand, unhappy with the government's price offer, began to block millers' warehouses on Wednesday in a protest.
But the effects were probably temporary and would not sustain the current firmness in Thai raw sugar premiums, one trader said. He also said he did not foresee a large decrease in Thailand's new crop.
"We will probably see Thai premiums come down, maybe as low as 30 to 40 points," he said. The current Thai raw premium for January/March was 45 points bid (100 points = 1 US cent) over Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange prices.
The March/May and May/July premium was 60 to 70 points bid. The premium for Thai white sugar March/April was $1.50 bidover London prices and May/July was $3 to $4 offered.
The outlook for Malaysia's sugar buying in 1999 was for as light decrease from this year to about 900,000 tonnes to one million tonnes due to the weak economy, a trader said.
In addition, Malaysia was limiting exports of white sugar, which would reduce buying of imports, the trader said.
The only purchasing at present was by Indonesia, which was buying small shipments of white sugar amounting to about 2,000 tonnes per month, mainly from Pakistan, traders said.
The chances that China will import sugar next year depended on supply and the weather in the main producing region of Guangxi, a trader said.
"At this stage we expect another good year, more or less the same as last year," he said.
In 1999 China was likely to approve licenses to toll raw sugar for re-export after processing in the amount of 200,000 tonnes, about the same level as this year, the trader said.
However, he said he believed more than 200,000 tonnes were actually tolled in1998 because this summer China subsidized exports of white sugar to Indonesia.
The price of white sugar ex-factory in Guangxi was 2,800 yuan ($338) a tonne and in Guangdong province, where supply was a little tight, the price was 3,000 yuan, he said.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
------------------------------------------------------------
This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
------------------------------------------------------------