China's sugar imports decline 90 pct in November
Beijing. December 23. INTERFAX-CHINA - China's sugar imports slumped to 23,034 tons in November, down 90.89 percent month-on-month, according to General Administration of Customs (GAC) data released Dec. 21.
According to the data, China imported a total of 1.64 million tons of sugar in the first eleven months of 2010, up 57 percent year-on-year.
Shi Yu, an analyst with Jinpeng International Futures Co.,Ltd, told Interfax on Dec. 23. the drop was due to Chinese companies almost exhausting their yearly quota for sugar imports.
China's central government set a total imports quota of 1.95 million tons for 2010, 70 percent of which was allocated to state-owned companies.
Meanwhile, 92 sugar producers in Guangxi Province with a combined daily production capacity of 618,000 tons have started grinding as of Dec. 20, according to the China Sugar Association (CSA). The producers were outputting 60,000 tons of sugar per day at the time of the announcement.
China auctioned off a total of 610,000 tons of state sugar reserves this year in an effort to curb rising sugar prices, Interfaxpreviously reported.
-Li Xin