Asian crushing season arrives, market sugar prices slide
Asia: Crushing season arrives, market sugar prices slide
(Agricultural Wealth Network) Dow Jones news As the harvest approaches in major producing countries in Asia, market trading is quiet, and Asian sugar prices slid in the week up to Tuesday.
For j-spec raw sugar delivered from January to March next year, the discount against the 1003 contract is 15 points, with no quotes; for raw sugar delivered from March to May, the premium against the 1003 contract is 15-25 points, and for high-grade raw sugar delivered from March to May, the premium against the 1003 contract is about 40-70 points.
A trader at a trading company in Bangkok said: "As the harvest approaches in Thailand, India and China, supply increases and people cut prices.
A trader at a sugar mill pointed out that Thailand's sugarcane output in the 09/10 crushing season is expected to reach the level of 70-71 million tonnes, slightly higher than 67 million tonnes in the 08/09 sugar year. It is said that Thailand, as Asia's largest sugar exporter, will begin crushing work for the new sugar year next week.
India's largest sugarcane-producing state, Maharashtra, already began crushing last week, so local sugar prices have begun to weaken. At present, quotes for small-grain sugar in Mumbai's Vashi spot market have fallen from 32,000-33,000 Indian rupees/tonne last week to 31,500-32,500 Indian rupees/tonne.
Ashok Jain, president of the Bombay Sugar Merchants Association (BSMA), said: "Because buyers expect sugar prices to continue to slide, a wait-and-see atmosphere has begun to intensify, and demand has already declined.
However, because a supply gap still exists domestically, prices will not fall too much either.
As the world's largest sugar-consuming country, India is estimated to have produced only 16 million tonnes of sugar in the new crushing season that began on October 1, while domestic sugar consumption is as high as 23 million tonnes.
For j-spec raw sugar delivered from January to March next year, the discount against the 1003 contract is 15 points, with no quotes; for raw sugar delivered from March to May, the premium against the 1003 contract is 15-25 points, and for high-grade raw sugar delivered from March to May, the premium against the 1003 contract is about 40-70 points.
A trader at a trading company in Bangkok said: "As the harvest approaches in Thailand, India and China, supply increases and people cut prices.
A trader at a sugar mill pointed out that Thailand's sugarcane output in the 09/10 crushing season is expected to reach the level of 70-71 million tonnes, slightly higher than 67 million tonnes in the 08/09 sugar year. It is said that Thailand, as Asia's largest sugar exporter, will begin crushing work for the new sugar year next week.
India's largest sugarcane-producing state, Maharashtra, already began crushing last week, so local sugar prices have begun to weaken. At present, quotes for small-grain sugar in Mumbai's Vashi spot market have fallen from 32,000-33,000 Indian rupees/tonne last week to 31,500-32,500 Indian rupees/tonne.
Ashok Jain, president of the Bombay Sugar Merchants Association (BSMA), said: "Because buyers expect sugar prices to continue to slide, a wait-and-see atmosphere has begun to intensify, and demand has already declined.
However, because a supply gap still exists domestically, prices will not fall too much either.
As the world's largest sugar-consuming country, India is estimated to have produced only 16 million tonnes of sugar in the new crushing season that began on October 1, while domestic sugar consumption is as high as 23 million tonnes.