Queensland Sugar Ltd (QSL), Australia's biggest raw sugar exporter, said on Thursday that a reduction in Indonesia's import licences has had no financial impact on the company. Indonesian industry sources told Reuters on Wednesday a number of local refiners had to cancel import deals for up to 400,000 tonnes of the sweetener from Australia after Jakarta issued fewer permits than expected.
"QSL has worked closely with its Indonesian partners to address this issue and as a result, sugar has been shipped and QSL has experienced no financial impacts on its marketing programme," Dougall Lodge, general manager of trading and risk, said in an emailed statement. Lodge gave no further details. It was not clear if any QSL shipments had been delayed or suspended. A spokeswoman declined to give further details.
Indonesia's total sugar consumption is expected to reach 5.9 million tonnes in 2014/15, up from 5.7 million tonnes in 2013/14, according to a US Department of Agriculture report. The world's largest raw sugar importer, Indonesia takes sugar from Thailand, Brazil and Australia. QSL markets the majority of Australia's raw sugar exports and ships around 3.5 million tonnes in a typical year, according to its website. Key export markets include South Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia and China. Indonesia's imports of Australian raws range from 350,000 tonnes to almost 900,000 tonnes a year, according to dealers.
