By Pratik Parija April 14 (Bloomberg) -- India, the world’s biggest consumer of sugar, may buy more sweetener than previously forecast after the government lifted the import tax on raw and white varieties of the commodity to meet a shortfall in supplies.
Mills may buy 2.5 to 3 million metric tons of raw sugar in the year ending September, up from 1.5-2 million tons estimated last month, S.L. Jain<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=S.L.+Jain&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>, director general of the Indian Sugar Mills Association<http://www.indiansugar.com/>, said in a phone interview from Mumbai. Increased purchases by India, the second-biggest producer, may help support prices that have climbed to a six-week high in New York mainly amid forecasts that the South Asian country will become a net importer. Prices in Mumbai have climbed to a three- year high as production declines. “There is parity in prices now to import raw as domestic prices have risen,” said Jain. The landed cost of raw sugar is 16.5 rupees a kilogram and will increase to 21.5 rupees after processing in Uttar Pradesh. That’s on par with the wholesale price of 22.5 rupees in the northern state, according to ISMA. Prices at Vashi, a Mumbai suburb and the nation’s biggest wholesale sugar market, have climbed 28 percent this year on forecast production may fall 45 percent to 14.5 million tons in the year ending September. White sugar rose to the highest in more than seven months in London today. Futures rose as much as 3.9 percent to $411 a ton, the highest since Aug. 28, 2008, on the Liffe exchange. Port Congestion Mills have contracted to buy 1.7 million tons, of which 850,000 tons has arrived into the country, Jain said. “More would have come if so much waiting at ports wasn’t there,” Jain said. “Ships have to wait for 30 days compared with normal waiting of 6-7 days.” India in February allowed duty-free imports of raw sugar until September for processing and sale domestically, provided buyers export an equivalent quantity of refined sugar within three years. The government eased the rules further, with the Cabinet last week removing the export obligation and extending the zero-duty benefit to white sugar. The government will notify the tax changes soon, Trade Secretary G.K. Pillai told reporters yesterday. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=aFPRrVAWSYI4&refer=india -- Condemn none: if you can stretch out a helping hand, do so. If you cannot, fold your hands, bless your brothers, and let them go their own way. *Swami Vivekananda* --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""GLOBAL SPECULATORS"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/globalspeculators?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
