Although Asia was recovering from last year's economic turmoil that reduced demand for sugar, its progress was slow and would not have much impact on an estimated 15 million tonne glut in the market, said the ISO's executive director, Peter Baron.

``The market cannot really recover until this surplus has disappeared,'' Baron told Reuters in an interview.

``Asian countries are recovering, but not to the extent where consumption can catch up to the surplus. From the demand side, there is no strong signal of recovery.''

``Over the next two or three years, we will not see too much of a change. Asian demand is growing, but slowly,'' he added.