Raw Sugar Rises for Third Session as Import Demand Increases

Sugar futures rose for the third straight session, bolstered by increasing import demand.

Pakistan said today it plans to buy 500,000 metric tons of white sugar by this weekend, meeting a target. The country intends to buy an additional 700,000 tons by June. Russia may import at least 1 million tons of raw sugar next month, the International Sugar Organization said.

“Buyers are returning to the market,” said Ricardo Scaff, a commodity trader at Rabobank Nederland in New York. “There is room for the prices to appreciate.”

Sugar for May delivery gained 0.38 cent, or 2.3 percent, to 17.23 cents a pound on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. The contract climbed 3.2 percent in the previous two sessions.

Futures tumbled 38 percent in the first quarter on forecasts for bigger crops in Brazil, the world’s leading producer, and India, the second-largest. The price more than doubled in 2009 as adverse weather reduced output.

The global-production deficit may narrow to 5.4 million tons in the year ending Sept. 30 from an estimated 7.3 million in October as crops recover, Morgan Stanley said yesterday.

Debarati Roy
Source: Bloomberg