India May Turn Sugar Importer Like China on Food Demand
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India, the biggest sugar user, may produce less than it consumes as early as October 2012, possibly spurring the first net imports in three years, said ITC Ltd. That would push up global prices, said Standard Chartered Plc.
“India is likely to become a structural importer” like China, said Somnath Chatterjee, ITC’s head of procurement, who said the company was the third-biggest domestic sugar buyer after Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc. Rising demand for cookies and candy will outstrip production curbed by low domestic prices, he said in an interview yesterday.