snoop1130 Posted October 14, 2019 Share Posted October 14, 2019 China's crackdown on sugar smuggling leaves global storage headache By Maytaal Angel, Hallie Gu White sugar products are placed for sale at a supermarket in Beijing, China September 4, 2017. REUTERS/Jason Lee/Files LONDON/BEIJING (Reuters) - A crackdown on sugar smuggling into China has left abundantly supplied markets in Asia and beyond struggling to absorb excess supplies, causing a wider storage problem for global markets. Vast tonnages of sugar smuggled into China are believed to be produced mostly in India or Thailand and shipped to Myanmar, Laos or Vietnam before entering the Chinese mainland. Those flows should more than halve this year to about 800,000 tonnes versus previous years when between 1.5-2.8 million tonnes would be smuggled in, according to Wang Weidong, a sugar analyst based in southern China. The crackdown comes as Beijing faces pressure from industry to extend hefty sugar import tariffs beyond 2020 and keep growth in licensed imports into China historically low. “Chinese authorities have really clamped down on that (smuggling trade) this year. It’s been shut down for all intents and purposes,” said a source a London-based sugar trader with ties to Asia. Traders and analysts in London and Beijing said they expect the clamp-down to continue. International Sugar Organization (ISO) figures show the global market will record a deficit of nearly 5 million tonnes in the 2019/20 season, meaning Asia will be able to absorb some of the excess resulting from China’s crackdown. However, following two straight years of surplus, the world market has some 95 million tonnes of stock to absorb, the ISO said. That is equivalent to about six months worth of demand and is disproportionately concentrated in Asia. CHINA’S OFFICIAL IMPORTS SLOW China’s tariffs should leave official sugar imports into the country little changed this year at around 3 million tonnes, said Justin Liu, China-based senior sugar analyst at Chaos Research Institute. The lack of growth is unusual for a developing economy like China which has a sugar deficit, and shows Beijing is serious about protecting its domestic industry. “With the domestic output and imports under the quota, China’s domestic demand can be met. Supply and demand is balanced. If China opens its market completely, the domestic sugar industry will be doomed,” said Weidong. “Everyone is speaking from their own interest. Why produce so much when you can’t consume it?” he added. China in May 2017 hit major exporting nations with hefty tariffs on sugar imports, and started to levy extra tariffs on out-of-quota sugar imports from all origins in August last year. The measures, with the smuggling crackdown, have helped push Chinese white sugar prices CSRc1 up some 20 percent this year, after they sank to near four-year lows last year. THAI STOCKS BUILD China’s smuggling crackdown has also contributed to a build-up of stock in Thailand, some of which made its way onto global markets mid this year via record deliveries against ICE futures contracts. Analysts Green Pool said Thailand, the world’s second largest exporter, was sitting on nearly 7 million tonnes of stock at end-September, 1.1 million tonnes more than last September and nearly 3 million more than the previous two years. “In an ideal world they would have sold all their stock by September,” Green Pool analyst Tom McNeill said. A large proportion of this stock will have to be cleared by the end of the year to make way for the new crush, he added. Industry sources say Thai raw sugar is again trading at a premium to the ICE futures SBc1, indicating the supply-demand balance in Asia is starting to tighten. But the China crackdown still leaves Asian markets with unwelcome excess supply. -- © Copyright Reuters 2019-10-14 Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking Thailand news and visa info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatOngo Posted October 14, 2019 Share Posted October 14, 2019 Sweet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tayaout Posted October 14, 2019 Share Posted October 14, 2019 Fun fact they also have issue with milk powder smuggling into China. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Chinese_milk_scandal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaanbiker Posted October 14, 2019 Share Posted October 14, 2019 What happened to the good ole opium trade? Not that sweet, methinks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
x010010x Posted October 14, 2019 Share Posted October 14, 2019 my supplier just told me that sugar price will increase from 580 to 630 per 25 kg bag starting from tomorrow.. so if there is a big stock in thailand why is the price increasing?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tayaout Posted October 14, 2019 Share Posted October 14, 2019 10 minutes ago, x010010x said: my supplier just told me that sugar price will increase from 580 to 630 per 25 kg bag starting from tomorrow.. so if there is a big stock in thailand why is the price increasing?? It's in the last paragraph of the article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrTuner Posted October 14, 2019 Share Posted October 14, 2019 Sell it outside Thai schools, the kids will snort it in straight from the bags. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelseafan Posted October 14, 2019 Share Posted October 14, 2019 8 hours ago, Tayaout said: Fun fact they also have issue with milk powder smuggling into China. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Chinese_milk_scandal I remember that, it was the Melamine scare. UK retailers were having to put restrictions in place on how many tins consumers could buy as they were being exported to China in bulk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bendejo Posted October 14, 2019 Share Posted October 14, 2019 A few years back there was something going on with sugar in Malaysia, can't recall the details. It came down to the price of sugar being app. 1 baht less per kilo down there, which resulted in rampant smuggling of sugar into Thailand (according to the press). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Srikcir Posted October 15, 2019 Share Posted October 15, 2019 16 hours ago, Tayaout said: It's in the last paragraph of the article. 17 hours ago, snoop1130 said: the supply-demand balance in Asia is starting to tighten. But the China crackdown still leaves Asian markets with unwelcome excess supply. (bold my emphasis) But 17 hours ago, snoop1130 said: Thailand, the world’s second largest exporter, was sitting on nearly 7 million tonnes of stock at end-September, 1.1 million tonnes more than last September and nearly 3 million more than the previous two years. And 17 hours ago, snoop1130 said: A large proportion of this stock will have to be cleared by the end of the year to make way for the new crush Any immediate price increase is unlikely to be sustainable. Unless sold to smugglers for the Chinese market? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hotchilli Posted October 15, 2019 Share Posted October 15, 2019 18 hours ago, x010010x said: my supplier just told me that sugar price will increase from 580 to 630 per 25 kg bag starting from tomorrow.. so if there is a big stock in thailand why is the price increasing?? Profiteering ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Traubert Posted October 15, 2019 Share Posted October 15, 2019 On 10/14/2019 at 6:47 PM, Tayaout said: Fun fact they also have issue with milk powder smuggling into China. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Chinese_milk_scandal Had. 11 years ago. The Aussies cant produce enough for them these days. Is time standing still where you are? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tayaout Posted October 15, 2019 Share Posted October 15, 2019 7 hours ago, Traubert said: Had. 11 years ago. The Aussies cant produce enough for them these days. Is time standing still where you are? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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