The fifth Thai Quota B tender for the 2017-18 (October-September) season took place Thursday, with a total of 37,333 mt of HiPol raw sugar awarded and 15,000 mt of J-Spec offered, market sources said.
So far in these five tenders, Thai Cane and Sugar Corporation has managed to auction off a total of 326,667 mt out of the 400,000 mt allocated every year under the Quota B auction process, for raws exports.
This leaves a balance of about 73,333 mt remaining to be auctioned off in the balance of the year, according to Platts Sugar Analytics data.
Sucden was awarded 3,000 mt of J-Spec for shipping from March 1 to May 15 at 50 points above March (H) New York No.11 raw sugar futures, sources said.
Bunge was awarded 3,000 mt of J-Spec for shipping from May 1 to July 15 at 45 points above May (K) New York No.11 raw sugar futures, they also said.
Agrex Asia was awarded 9,000 mt of J-Spec for shipping from July 1 to September 15 at 88 points above July (N) New York No.11 raw sugar futures, according to the market sources.
"The premiums this year for J-Spec were low as Japanese traders were covered and, hence, lower bids were awarded to international trading houses," a Japanese trader said.
The quota B tender awarded price for J-Spec was lower than offers heard in the market on Thursday at March (H) plus 125 points for March 1 to May 15 shipment. The tender awarded price for J-Spec will not push the premiums lower for offers in the market as the quantity was very small, a trader said.
Wilmar was awarded 13,333.33 mt of HiPol for shipping May 1 to July 15 at 68 points above March (H) New York No.11 raw sugar futures and Tereos was awarded 12,000 mt at 78 points above March (H) for the same shipment period, according to market sources.
"The 10 point difference in the bids for the two awarded bids was because of the the odd quantity which Wilmar was awarded," a physical broker said.
Raw sugar is generally traded in cargo sizes of 12,000 mt.
Tereos was also awarded 12,000 mt of HiPol for shipping from July 1 to September 15 at 78 points above July (N) New York No.11 raw sugar futures, sources said.
The Thai HiPol quota B tender awarded prices pushed up premiums for Platts Thai HiPol forward curve assessments Thursday.
The Thai HiPol May-July 15 assessment was up 5 points day on day to 78 points and The Thai HiPol July-Sep 15 assessment was up 2 points to 78 points. The Thai Quota B tender, which covers a 400,000 mt raw sugar contract for the year, is held by several trade houses and sold on behalf of the Thai Cane and Sugar Corporation, which has overall responsibility for pricing and selling raw sugar under this quota.
Half of the amount is allocated to international sugar brokers, and the other half to local millers for export.
