Asian nations to overtake Russia as largest raw-sugar importers
2011-08-11 10:51:26
China, Indonesia and Malaysia are set to overtake Russia as the world’s largest raw-sugar importers in 2011-12, C. Czarnikow Sugar Futures Ltd. said.
Russia was the biggest importer in the 2010-11 season, data from the brokerage showed. Rising population, urbanization rates and higher incomes in Asia will result in nations including China, Indonesia and Malaysia importing more than Russia in the coming season, it said in a report e-mailed today.
“Asia is at the center of demand in the sugar market and likely to stay that way,” Czarnikow’s director Toby Cohen said in a statement. “Increasing demand is being driven not only by population growth, but also by urbanization and rising incomes, which allow for increased consumption of processed foods and soft drinks,” Czarnikow said.
Asia’s sugar demand is rising at a faster pace than regional production, resulting in a structural deficit there, the London-based brokerage said.
China is expected to import more in the coming season than the 2 million tons forecast in 2010-11, according to Czarnikow, which didn’t provide a specific figure. The country imported 600,000 tons in 2007-2008. Czarnikow didn’t provide a figure for Russian imports.
Sugar shipments to China in the third quarter are almost double last year’s level, it said. Production in the world’s most populous nation has been “held back as a result of land shifting from cane to better economic uses,” it added.
Demand from Asia and the Middle East is likely to put pressure on Brazil, the world’s largest producer, at a time the country’s crop is falling, the broker said.
Sugar cane output in Brazil’s Center South, the nation’s main producing region, will fall for the first time in a decade this year to 533.5 million tons, industry group Unica said.
Asia and the Middle East together have taken 60 percent of Brazil’s exports so far this season, according to Czarnikow. “Already over 1 million tons have been shipped to China from Brazil this season,” it said. “We expect this demand to exert additional pressure on Brazilian availability,” Cohen said.