Thailand buys sugar for first time in 30 years

14.07.2010 10:32 "Agro Perspectiva" (Kyiv) — Thailand, the world’s second-largest sugar exporter, on Tuesday bought sugar for the first time in three decades, in a bid to ease a severe domestic shortfall. The government Office of the Cane and Sugar Board bought 74,350 tonnes of white sugar from local exporters at a price of between $707.50 and $720 a tonne for delivery between July and September. Although the quantity of sugar is small compared with the size of the international market — Thailand alone exported 5.3m tonnes of sugar in the 2008–9 season, according to US Department of Agriculture data — the fact that the country has been forced to buy back sugar previously earmarked for export reflects extreme tightness in global sugar markets. Prices for both raw and white sugar have surged in recent weeks as consumers of the sweetener attempt to rebuild inventories that were depleted when sugar price spiked to a three-decade high in January. ICE October raw sugar is up more than 20 per cent since the start of June at 17.16 cents per pound, while Liffe August white sugar has surged 32 per cent to a four-month peak of $623.50 a tonne. While bumper harvests are expected in Brazil and India, the world’s top two producers, global sugar inventories will nonetheless fall to their lowest in 20 years this season, according to the International Sugar Organisation. Thailand, which controls domestic sugar prices, was suffering a domestic shortage after quantities of the quota for domestic use were smuggled out of the country when prices spiked earlier in the year, traders said. There have been rumours in the market that Thailand may be forced to import sugar, but traders said Tuesday’s purchase would probably be enough to cover domestic needs until the next season’s crop, which begins in November. The price paid by the Thai sugar board represents a $110-a-tonne premium over Monday’s closing price of the futures contract in London. Thailand had intended to buy 100,000 tonnes, but was put off by the high prices offered by some traders, said Prasert Tapaneeyangkul, the head of the government sugar board. «I am quite happy, but not entirely happy,» Mr Prasert said. «The price should have been lower.» Mr Prasert said the government would consider issuing another tender later in the year to acquire the remaining 25,000 tonnes if local shortages persisted. Three trading companies sold sugar to the Thai sugar board: Louis Dreyfus, the French commodities trading company, Bunge, the New York-listed trader, and August Töpfer & Co, a Germany trading company.

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