Thai Sugar Output to Decrease by Nearly 20% in 2023/24 Season Due to Drought Conditions

Agriculture – Thai sugar output to drop

According to the Thai Sugar Miller’s Corp., sugar output in Thailand will decline by almost a fifth in the 2023/24 season due to severe drought conditions. Sugarcane output is expected to fall to 82mt in 2023/24 from 93.9mt this season. As a result, sugar output is estimated to fall by 18% YoY to around 9mt in the upcoming harvest. Thai sugar exports are also expected to drop to 6mt next year from 8mt this year.

The latest data from the International Coffee Organization (ICO) shows that global coffee exports stood at 10.21m bags in July 2023, down 1.6% YoY. This includes Arabica exports of 6.2m bags (down 6.5% YoY) and Robusta exports of 4m bags (up 7.2% YoY). This leaves shipments between October 2022 and July 2023 at 103.7m bags, down 5.7% YoY.

The latest Chinese trade data show that China’s soybean imports rose 31% YoY to 9.36mt in August as domestic crushers continue to take advantage of cheaper supplies from Brazil. This leaves cumulative imports at 71.7mt over the first eight months of the year, up 18% YoY.