REPORTS

There is little fresh fundamental news and what continues to emerge is confirmation that producers are stepping up activities with Thailand crushing nearly 1Mmt cane per day and India’s production forecasts rising to over 27MMT sugar. With output also up in Russia and EU this year and Pakistan looking to export 1.5 to 2.M MT, the supply seems to be ample and has led to a stepping up of producer pricing on the futures markets lately as prices over 15 cents seem far away now. The lack of a major buyer stepping up to absorb some of the surplus is also weighing on the market as Chinese imports of raws appear to be out of the question in the short/medium term, at least from the major producers such as Brazil, Thailand and Australia with import tariffs from these origins so high.