Malaysia has agreed to import 130,000 tons of raw sugar from India for $49 million, despite an ongoing row over palm oil trade between the two countries.
The amount is a leap from last year’s raw sugar imports from India of 88,000 tons. Malaysia’s sugar producer MSM Malaysia Holdings Berhad (MSM) said it has procured the first quarter of its raw sugar requirement from India for 2020, and is expecting the arrival of three more shipments between January and February.
MSM is the leading sugar refiner in Asia, with annual production capacity of up to 2.25 million tons of refined sugar.
The company operates under the world’s largest palm oil producer FGV Holdings, which is a unit of the Malaysian state-owned Federal Land Development Authority.
MSM Group CEO Khairil Anuar Aziz said in a statement released on Thursday that the company decided to import Indian sugar due to “the acceptable quality and competitive freight cost of raw sugar produced from India.”
India is among the world’s largest sugar producers alongside Brazil and Thailand. “Over 900,000 metric tons of raw sugar were imported in 2019 from various top producing countries, which include India,” said Anuar Aziz.