Sugar Falls to Lowest Price Since June on Rising Brazil Output

Sugar declined to the lowest price since last June on mounting evidence that rising supplies from Brazil will erase a global production deficit.

Output in Brazil’s Center South, the world’s largest growing region, jumped 77 percent in the first half of April as mills started processing a record cane crop, industry association Unica said yesterday. Prices more than doubled last year as harvests were hurt by excess precipitation in Brazil, the leading producer, and a weak monsoon in India, the top consumer.

“Healthy production in Brazil will keep prices depressed,” said Jeff Bauml, a senior vice president at R.J. O’Brien & Associates, a broker in New York. “Importers like Egypt and Iran are waiting for prices to decline further.”

Raw sugar for July delivery fell 0.51 cent, or 3.3 percent, to 14.86 cents a pound on ICE Futures U.S. Earlier, the price touched 14.81 cents, the lowest level since June 3. The commodity has dropped 45 percent this year and 6.2 percent in the last two sessions.

White sugar for August delivery fell $9.90, or 2.1 percent, to $455.10 a metric ton on the Liffe exchange in London.

Debarati Roy
Source: Bloomberg