Sugar

Sugar futures rise following a 1 MMT sugar delivery against the October contract. Raw sugar for March up 1.9% at 14.36 cents a pound on the ICE Futures U.S. exchange. Bulky deliveries such as this occur when the physical market is uninteresting enough to make the deliverer use the exchange as a last resource.

ICRA bullish on sugar prices in near term as supplies seen tight.

Two Indian mills surrender 11,555 MT of reallocated raw sugar import quota.

ISMA seeks inclusion of sugar in FTAs with neighbouring countries.

Prices of sugar fell in the key wholesale markets of north India due to subdued demand and selling pressure on mills to clear stocks before the upcoming crushing season. Expectations of a rise in production this season has also dampened the sentiment for the sweetener and is keeping prices subdued. Mills are quoting lower prices to trigger demand as they have to clear stocks before the crushing season starts at the end of October. In other key wholesale markets of Maharashtra, sugar prices remained unchanged amid thin trade.

Sugar industry body ISMA is considering transporting excess molasses in the mills of Uttar Pradesh to those in Tamil Nadu, where a drought-hit sugarcane crop is threatening to keep sugar mills and their ancillary units idle and deepen losses. Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) is deliberating on the feasibility of transporting the excess molasses to millers in Tamil Nadu so that it can be processed to make ethanol and other by-products, thereby helping them cut losses.

Karnataka, where sugar output fell to an eight-year low of 2.05 million tonne this marketing year, have to wait long to return to its normal production level of about 5 million tonne. While production of sugar is seen rising in the southern state in 2017-18 (Oct-Sep), the rise would be marginal. Sugar output in the state during 2017-18 is seen rising to around 2.4 million tonne helped by “good” monsoon rains this year following two successive years of drought.

Prices of sugar rose in the key wholesale markets of Mumbai due to an increase in demand as Maharashtra markets opened after a three-day holiday. Prices of the sweetener, however, fell in the key wholesale markets of Delhi as demand was hit due to police blockades set up in Punjab and Haryana to quell unrest ahead of the announcement of the sentence against self-styled godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim.

The domestic demand for sugar may rise to about 30 million tonne by 2020, up from an estimated consumption of 24.5 million tonne this year. In order to meet the demand of 30 million tonne, the country should record a growth of 3.75% per year in the production of the sweetener.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade has reallocated quota for the import of 92,660 tonne raw sugar at 25% duty. Subsequent to the allocation of quota for import of sugar on Sep 13, nine applicants had surrendered their allocated quota. Some sugar mills surrendered their quota as the quantity allocated to them was very low and imports would have be unviable. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade had received a total of 35 applications for import of raw sugar, much higher than anticipated.

Futures contracts of sugar 11 fell to a one-month low of 13.11 cents a pound on the ICE due to a higher-than-expected rise in the output of sugar in the Centre-South region of Brazil. The October contract of sugar 11 ended at 13.21 cents a pound, down 3.9%, while the most active March futures closed 3.1% lower at 13.91 cents a pound.

Mills in Brazil’s Centre-South region produced 3.13 million tonne of sugar in the first fortnight of September, up 29.2% from 2.42 million tonne produced a year ago. Centre-South Brazil accounts for over 90% of the country’s total sugar output. Mills in the region crushed 45.44 million tonne of cane during Sep 1-15, up 20% on year. During Apr 1-Sep 15, mills crushed 427 million tonne of cane, down 1.6% on year. During the same period, mills produced 26.39 million tonne sugar, up 5.9% on year. Of the total cane crushed, around 48.4% was used for sugar production, while 51.6% was used to make ethanol. Mills in the region are likely to produce 35.2 million tonne of sugar this season, marginally lower than 35.6 million tonne produced in 2016-17 (Apr-Mar).

Prices of sugar fell in the key wholesale markets of the country due to increased selling pressure on mills. Prices of the commodity have declined due to increased selling pressure on mills as the government has imposed stockholding limits on them. The government has imposed stockholding limits on sugar mills for September and October to keep prices in check ahead of major festivals.

U.P. private sugar mills urge govt not to increase State Advisory Price.

Govt sees 24% jump in sugar production to 25 MT in 2017-18.

Apprehending hike in cane prices this season, private sugar mills have petitioned the state government urging it not to increase State Advisory Price (SAP) as ‘it would be detrimental for the industry and cane sector. In a letter despatched to Principal Secretary, Sugar and Cane Development, Uttar Pradesh Sugar Mills Association (UPSMA) secretary general Deepak Guptara said that the present SAP should not be increased in the overall interest of the farmers and the industry. As of now, the SAP stands at Rs 305 per quintal and sources claimed that Yogi Government wants to increase it between Rs 10 and 15 per quintal. The previous Samajwadi Party regime had increased cane price by Rs 25 per quintal last year. Sugar prices are subject to market variations and can go up and down as per demand. Overall increase in sugar prices is marginal as compared to SAP in previous years. There are times when sugar prices go down because of excess production of sugarcane but the SAP increases. This imbalance has hit the sugar industry hard. UPSMA official said that once SAP was increased, it cannot be reduced even when sugar prices fall. In such situation cane price arrears accumulate and sugar mills incur losses.

Delay in monsoon’s retreat postpones sugarcane crushing.