Friday, August 21, 2009

Sugar prices reach 28 year high

Whitsundays Online

The weakest monsoon in seven years in India (27% below average) has seen Sugar prices rise to their highest level since 1981, and likely to stay high in the months ahead.

Sugar cane production in India has fallen, as farmers over the years shifted to better-paying food crops. Production in the year ending in September is estimated to drop 40 percent to 14.8 million tons.

Sugar is currently trading at $555 a tonne (US$0.22/pound) with supplies from the world's largest grower Brazil, expected to remain under pressure as a lot of the gound is too wet to harvest and mill because of heavy rainfall in parts of the country.

The high prices for sugar are expected to continue through 2009 and early 2010.

Sourced from The Daily Star - Sohol Parvez
The Wall Street Journal - By Debiprasad Nayak and Arpan Mukherjee
Voice of America - Heda Bayron

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