CHINA: 2011/12 sugar sales at 8.64 million tonnes through July
Published: 08/07/2012, 1:15:15 PM
China's sugar crushers have sold 8.64 million metric tonnes of sugar as of July 31 in the current marketing year that began Oct. 1, thaccording to Dow Jones.
Sugar sales as a percentage of output, which totalled 11.52 million tonnes in the 2011/12 marketing year, hit 75%, down from 84% a year earlier, with inventories with crushers totalling 2.88 million tonnes, the highest level in four years, the China Sugar Association's data showed.
Demand for locally-produced sugar is weak this year, as it is priced much higher than imported sugar, analysts said. Meanwhile, some end-users have shifted to corn syrup as a substitute.
The poor sales data may further weigh on prices, Jintai Futures said in a research note.
New-crop sugar is expected to hit the market as early as October, adding pressure to an already oversupplied sugar market.
The benchmark January white sugar contract on the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange has declined 20% since early April, closing down 0.1% Tuesday at CNY5,394 a tonne. October raw sugar on the Intercontinental Exchange settled at 21.83 cents a pound Monday.
In the January-June period, China imported 1.44 million tonnes compared with 520,472 tonnes a year earlier, government data showed.