Asian Sugar Demand Could Help Chinese

China's sugar factories could ease their financial woes by taking advantage of Far East demand and exporting to Asian users but they are unlikely to be given the go-ahead soon, trade and industry sources said on Wednesday.

Chinese producers, most of which are burdened by low prices and high debts, could earn $15-20 a tonne exporting white sugar to the region, a trader with a Western bank in Hong Kong said.

Recent Indonesian purchases of Thai sugar had tightened regional supply, which could mean Asian buyers will have to look elsewhere for their sugar, he said. "If you take the Thai white sugar out of the market, other importers will need to find a place for sugars, so you could find interest coming from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Philippines," he said. "And that's when China will come in as a replacement," he added. But that wasn't likely to happen any time soon, an official of the China Sugar Association said.

"The international prices are not at a level we could be happy with," he said. by telephone from Nanning, capital of Guangxi province where most of China's sugar is produced.