THAI SUGAR PRODUCTION INCREASES
Thai sugar production totalled 960,788
tonnes in January, an increase of 12.7 pct on January 1986,
according to figures received by the International Sugar
Organization.
    November and December production figures also exceeded last
year's totals with the result that output in the first three
months of the season showed a 23.1 pct increase over 1985/86.
Production in the November 1986 to January 1987 period totalled
1.29 mln tonnes.
    Thai exports in December and January were down, however.
January exports fell from 73,164 to 35,910 tonnes.
    Domestic consumption increased 7.3 pct to 192,069 tonnes
for the three month period, but this was not sufficient to
prevent a significant rise in stocks, which climbed to 1.62 mln
tonnes by the end of January, compared with 1.52 mln a year
earlier.
    Thai Agricultural Ministry officials have previously
forecast a decline in 1986/87 raws output to around 2.3 mln
tonnes from 2.48 mln in 1985/86.
 Reuter
