BEIJING: China imported nearly 124,000 tonnes of sugar in February, down around 24 per cent from a year ago and about half the volume expected by industry, with analysts saying shipments were likely delayed as the Lunar New Year holiday fell in the middle of the month.
Some shipments may also have been refused entry for “policy reasons“, said one analyst, after Beijing implemented a new approval process for non-quota imports.
The Chinese government is under pressure to reduce sugar imports to help struggling domestic mills that are forced to pay high prices for locally grown sugarcane, making them less competitive against imports from top growers like Brazil and Thailand.
Imports came to almost 3.5 million tonnes in 2014, prompting China’s commerce ministry to set up a new licensing system for all imports of the sweetener without a low-tariff quota. But local mills are still lobbying for tougher measures to curb imports.
Three cargoes, refused entry in December and expected to arrive last month, have still not arrived, impacting the February import numbers, said Zhan Xiao, analyst at Xinhu Futures.
“Our original estimates (for February) were 250,000 tonnes,” he said, adding that it was not clear if the three cargoes would arrive in March instead.
He could not offer further details on the cargoes’ origins or destination ports.
Slower imports come as China cut its forecast for sugar output this year to 10.5 million to 11 million tonnes, down from 12 million tonnes, according to a state media report on Monday.
Guangxi, accounting for almost two thirds of the country’s sugar harvest, will produce 6.5 million tonnes of sugar, officials said at a meeting on Sunday, lower than an earlier estimate of 7.2 million tonnes.
Yunnan, Xinjiang, Hainan and Guangdong are projected to yield 2.3 million tonnes, 450,000 tonnes, 300,000 tonnes and 730,000 tonnes of sugar respectively in the crushing year, Xinhua said.
Sugar farmers planted less cane last year after the government reduced the fixed cane purchasing price, and sugar yields also suffered from typhoons and less fertiliser-usage.
Lower output, long expected by industry, was unlikely to impact domestic prices, said Zhan, which have climbed strongly in the first three months of this year, before easing slightly in early March on pressure from weak global prices.
Imports for the first two months of 2015 came to 509,261 tonnes, up 12.6 per cent, customs data showed today. - Reuters