CIJENE ŠEĆERA NA BURZI U NEW YORKU

CIJENE ŠEĆERA NA BURZI U NEW YORK-U NEW YORK - Šećer br.11 cijene pri zatvaranju burze 28. siječnja 1998. POSLJ OTVA NAJ NAJ ZATVA NAGO EDNJA RANJE VIŠA NIŽA RANJE DBA MAR8 11.23 11.15 11.24 11.09 11.21 11.23 MAY8 10.91 10.96 11.00 10.87 10.91 10.92 JUL8 10.76 10.81 10.84 10.70 10.76 10.76 OCT8 10.77 10.83 10.84 10.70 10.77 10.77 MAR9 10.80 10.85 10.85 10.74 10.80 10.80 MAY9 10.76 10.80 10.76 10.76 10.77 10.77 JUL9 10.76 10.76 10.76 OCT9 10.67 10.70 10.67 10.67 10.63 10.65 CSCE world sugar ends slightly higher NEW YORK, Jan 28 (Reuters) - CSCE world sugar prices ended slightly higher Wednesday, recovering most of Tuesday's losses, but concerns about weak Asian demand were likely to keep sugar prices in a downtrend, traders said. "The market just corrected today from Tuesday's breakdown, but the problem of a lack of physical offtake and concern about lower Asian demand is likely to continue to weigh on prices," Merrill Lynch analyst Judith Ganes said. CSCE March sugar ended up 0.20 cent at 11.23 cents a pound, after trading a 11.09-11.24 cent range. Estimated total CSCE sugar volume was around 25,000 lots. But the backwardation in the near month forward price curve widened further with the March/May spread out to 0.32 cent at the close from 0.17 cent Tuesday. "It is feared that the Asian crisis could hit sugar demand especially in lower-income countries such as Indonesia where household consumption accounts for 80 per cent of total offtake," industry consultant, F.O. Licht said. "Indonesia has imposed a temporary freeze on corporate debt payments as the country has been devastated by a sharp depreciation of the rupiah against the dollar and the country now has to pay four times more for its dollar-denominated sugar imports from Thailand, Australia and other countries, which will not remain without effect on import requirements." Indonesia has already said it is reducing its planned purchases by as much as 200,000 tonnes for 1998. "At the same time it is feared that East Asian exports could rise significantly because currency devaluations make supplies more competitive and countries urgently need to finance escalating external debts," Licht said. 291145 MET jan 98