Prices of world sugar market climbs up

NEW DELHI: Prices in the world sugar market made marked gains in the last week of February on the back of the Indian government mulling the import
of white (refined or processed) sugar at zero duty .

Quotes for the London Daily Price (LDP) for white sugar for May 2009 closed for the week (ending March 1)at $399.60 or $5.60 higher than the previous week s ((week ending February 22) closing quotation. Tht works to Rs 20,419. 56 per tonne, up from a lower Rs 19,593.62 ($394)/tonne quoted on February 20 for May deliveries. The landed price for refined sugar is estimated by industry at around $420-$430/tonne currently.

Should the government decide finally to import processed sugar this month to keep domestic prices in check, this would mean high priced imports for India. Meanwhile, May delivery quotes for New York SPOT No. 11 raw or unprocessed sugar, already allowed for import at zero duty by the government but showing compartive slowness in the pace of price increase, closed at $18.52 higher.

That works out to $ 306.44 per tonne of raw sugar., or around Rs 15, 500/tonne. At 13.90 cents per pound, the price is already much higher than the 11.6 per pound level it hit in 2008. If the governemnt allows white sugar imports, though, prices, which are understood to have dipped by 7% already, could go down further.

source: ET