Thai sugar premiums are expected to hold steady over the next few day, but business for 2006 delivery remains thin, traders said on Monday. Thai exporters offered to sell Thai 100 ICUMSA white sugar, considered consumer grade, for January-March 2006 shipment steady at $35 over London prices on Monday and traders were bidding at $30 over.
The exporters offered to sell raw sugar for March-May 2006 shipment at 90-95 points over the New York Board of Trade raw sugar futures price on Monday. There were no offers last week.
"Traders from international trading firms have been looking to buy sugar under forward agreements for shipment next year," said one official at one large exporting firm.
"But, very few deals have been concluded. They said it is too high."
Exporters said they had sold forward contracts for less than 10 percent of the sugar, both raw and whites, they expect Thailand to produce in the new crop to be harvested in November.
There has been ample rain in cane growing areas over the past week after inconsistent rain since the wet season started in May, but too late to revive damaged cane, traders said.
Traders estimate the new cane crop at 40-43 million tonnes, 10-15 percent less than the previous crop, as some cane in the north-east, which produces about 40 percent of the Thai crop, has been damaged by drought.
The Thai Cane and Sugar Board estimates the crop at 44.37 million tonnes, 7 percent less than the previous crop due to drought and a reduced growing area.
The TCSC board failed to set a tender date at a meeting last on Wednesday to sell 400,000 tonnes of raw sugar for shipment in 2006 because of a quorum.
Several international trading firms are expected to join the tender to buy expectations of a smaller Thai crop, traders said.
Shipments of sugar from Thailand, Asia's largest exporter of raw sugar, since the start of the current crop year in November.
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