KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 1): MSM Malaysia, the country’s biggest refined sugar producer, is expected to import in excess of 1 million tons of raw sugar in 2019, according to Executive Director Khairil Anuar Aziz.

* Company has no specific origin target, Khairil tells Bloomberg in email Thursday

** It has not booked any Indian raw sugar for this season

** MSM procures raw sugar via international trade houses and “we do not discriminate in terms of raw sugar purchased. We are only guided by the specifications of the sugar and the vessel size,” he says

** Thai sugar is “selling at market mainly because it’s the first half of the Thai harvest season, whereas Indian raw sugars are normally priced at about $5/ton discount to this,” he says

** NOTE: India Mills Should Boost Raw Sugar Output to Spur Exports: Group

* NOTE: MSM has 58% market share in Malaysia, and is one of the biggest refiners in Asia; has capacity to produce 2.25m tons/year refined sugar 

** Refined output was 1m tons in 2017; exports 139,540 tons

** MSM is Malaysia’s largest raw sugar importer