USDA Reallocates 81,946 Tonnes of Shortfall
isc | Mar 26, 2010
This week the US Trade Representative reallocated 81,946 tonnes of Tariff rate Quota from countries that stated they would be unable to ship to 25 “nations more likely to ship,” writes sugar analyst Frank Jenkins of the Jenkins Sugar Group. The action may well be book keeping ahead of a real quota increase in the coming weeks. The reallocation will likely produce roughly 12,000 tonnes of new quota for Brazil and roughly 11,000 tonnes for the Philippines.
While the Dominican Republic will likely get 14,000 tonnes, the timing of the crop cycle is the issue there – there are still 152,365 tonnes of unshipped original quota from the DR. Any smaller quota holder will receive a top-off quantity – Guatemala will likely receive less than 4,000 tonnes.
Australia – the fourth largest quota holder – will likely get about 6,500 tonnes of new quota, but since they have already shipped their original quota of 87,402 tonnes, they will left with a virtually un-shippable quantity unless there is a further meaningful increase. Thus the all-important question: is today’s announcement lunch, or a mere snack before a real TRQ increase in April (or May)? If this is lunch, any shorts in the market – and there will be many – will be on the dinner menu.
