Sugar miller expands capacity

       Thai Roong Ruang Group, the country's second-biggest sugar miller, has expanded capacity because it expects its exports to rise 10% in 2010, helped by a revival in demand from India, said executive director Utai Asdatorn.
       The company is forecasting exports of nearly 1 million tonnes in 2010, up from about 890,000 tonnes expected this year, he said.
       "We have expanded our capacity as we see a bigger crop and strong demand,"he said."Soaring world sugar prices have encouraged millers to produce more sugar and that means farmers are growing more cane."
       The New York raw sugar contract for October delivery, the global benchmark,settled at 20.99 US cents a pound on Wednesday after hitting a 28-year high last week at 24.85 cents.
       In the current 2009-10 crop, Thailand,Asia's biggest sugar exporter is forecast to produce about 7.6 million tonnes from about 72-76 million tonnes of cane. The 2009-10 crushing season will start in November and end in April.
       Thai Roong Ruang, which runs seven sugar mills, is one of five big Thai millers to have expanded capacity to meet rising global demand. After the expansion, it is likely to produce 1.4 million tonnes of sugar in 2009-10, up from 1.2 million tonnes in the previous crop.
       Mr Utai said the company had contracted to sell around 50% of its 2009-10 production in advance through international trading houses.
       "We sell mostly to our traditional customers in Asia and the Middle East. How-ever, we expect to sell more sugar to India next year," he said.
       India, the world's biggest sugar consumer, has been largely absent from the Thai market for several years but tight domestic supply has forced it to import more, the main factor behind the rise in world prices in recent months.
       It is expected to import around 4 million tonnes of sugar in the 2009-10 crop year due to a fall in domestic cane production caused by a poor monsoon.
       Mr Utai said he expected Thai sugar production to rise gradually over the next few years as the world sugar deficit encouraged farmers to growmore cane.
       The London-based International Sugar Organisation has forecast a global sugar deficit of 8.4 million tonnes in 2009-10.