Sugar

Some 55,000 metric tons (MT) of sugar exported to the United States before October 31 to fill the additional sugar quota granted by Washington to the Philippines. Washington granted the Philippines an additional sugar quota of 63,830 MT for fiscal year 2017.

Raw sugar futures on ICE rallied to a 2-1/2-week high after Brazil confirmed it tax ethanol imports, which could possibly encourage mills to produce less sugar. October raw sugar settled up 0.35 cent, or 2.56 percent, at 14.02 cents per lb, after hitting 14.06 cents, its highest since Aug. 8. The tax raise the price of ethanol against sugar, which could encourage Brazilian mills to switch more production toward the biofuel instead of the sweetener.

Prices of sugar were up in the key wholesale markets across the country due to expectations of a rise in demand in the run up to the festival season starting next month. In Maharashtra, demand picked up also because markets closed for three days for Ganesh Chaturthi, starting from Friday. Mills in north India are increasing prices steadily as they expect demand to improve significantly before Durga Puja, Navratri and Dussehra.

Hyderabad: Commissioner for Civil Supplies C.V. Anand warned sugar traders against hiking the price by creating scarcity by stock holding of sugar illegally and practicing of speculative ctivities. Licensed Dealer / Trader should not sell sugar more than the price decided by Central government or state government. Raids should be conducted to check if any trader is doing business without license. A person engaged in the business of purchase sale and storage for sale of sugar and quantities of five quintals is considered as sugar dealer. Wholesale should get license from concerned district Civil Supplies officer, Tahasildar, if he fail to have license action will be taken under Civil Supplies Act.

The government has no plans to allow duty-free import of sugar as of now, Food Secretary Preeti Sudan said. Sugar production in the country fell to a seven-year low of 20.4 million tonne in 2016-17 (Oct-Sep). In April, the government had allowed duty-free import of 500,000 tonne of raw sugar until Jun 30 to shore up domestic supplies and keep prices in check. Earlier this month, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan had said that domestic sugar supply remains comfortable.

Prices of sugar fell in the key wholesale markets of Mumbai due to sluggish demand from bulk buyers. In Delhi, however, prices of sugar rose as demand improved amid low supplies. Traders expect demand to increase ahead of the upcoming festival season and are not lowering prices.

The government has turned down the request of millers in Tamil Nadu for financial assistance in the form of reimbursement of transportation costs to help them secure raw sugar from other states. Sugar mills in Tamil Nadu are keen on sourcing raw sugar from Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, which are expected to produce a surplus in 2017-18 (Oct-Sep), to improve availability of the sweetener in the state. The move would also aid capacity utilization of mills in the state, and reduce their losses. The mills had also urged the government to help cut their loss by restructuring their bank loans.

Decline in sugar and oil prices over the past six months has diminished the hope of financial recovery for a number of Brazilian mills, and could put new deal making in the sector on hold, according to industry experts. Raw sugar prices in New York were hovering around 13 cents per pound, down around 40 per cent since the fourth quarter of 2016, to a level analysts and millers say is close to production costs in Brazil centre-south. The price pressure on sugar and ethanol could cut short a nascent financial recovery for many Brazilian mills during a global sugar supply deficit in 2015 and 2016. It could also slow down talks between millers and potential investors and lead to more closures of indebted firms.

International Sugar Organization has raised its estimate for global sugar surplus in 2017-18 (Oct-Sep) sharply to 4.6 million tonne from 3 million tonne projected in June. The world sugar balance is forecast to show a surplus after two seasons of deficit” as the projected global output of sugar is higher than the consumption. Global sugar body has estimated the world sugar output in 2017-18 at 179.30 million tonne, up nearly 7% on year, led by likely higher production in India, European Union, Thailand and China. Globally, sugar available for export is expected to rise by 1.91 million tonne to 62.15 million tonne led by rising production in exporting countries, while the import demand for the sweetener in 2017-18 is seen at 57.62 million tonne.

Prices of sugar fell in the key wholesale markets of Maharashtra due to sluggish demand from bulk buyers. Mills are quoting lower prices to trigger demand as crushing is expected to start earlier than usual in 2017-18 (Oct-Sep). Sugar mills in Maharashtra have, however, sought compensation of 500 rupees per tonne from the central government for the likely losses they would incur due to lower sugar recovery rate because of early crushing of sugarcane. However, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Aug 12 said that the government has no plans to allow further imports of sugar yet.

Prices of sugar fell in the key wholesale markets of north India due to sluggish demand from bulk buyers. Mills are quoting lower prices to trigger demand as crushing is expected to start earlier than usual in 2017-18 (Oct-Sep) and so they want to clear their stocks and book profits. Prices of the sweetener remained steady in the key wholesale markets of Maharashtra today amid thin trade.

Sri Lanka raised import tax on sugar by 8 Sri Lankan rupees (3.3 Indian rupees) per kg on Tuesday as prices of the sweetener declined in global markets. Prices of sugar in international markets are currently low due to a rise in output in Brazil, among the world’s largest producers and exporters of the commodity. Mills in Brazil Centre-South region produced 3.41 million tonne sugar in the second fortnight of July, up 9.5% from 3.12 million tonne in the year-ago period, the country sugarcane industry association.

Prices of sugar rose slightly in the key wholesale markets of north India as demand increased at lower price levels. Sugar prices have remained low for many days now, so, we witonneessed some rise in demand at lower prices. Prices of the sweetener were, however, largely unchanged in the key wholesale markets of Maharashtra due to lacklustre trade.

Private sugar mills in Maharashtra have sought compensation of 500 rupees per tonne from the central government for the likely losses they would incur due to lower sugar recovery rate because of early crushing of sugarcane. The Centre has asked millers across the country to begin cane crushing operations for the 2017-18 (Oct-Sep) season early in October, in a bid to tide over likely shortages during the festival season. Mills typically begin crushing cane in November, when the sugar recovery rate is 10-11%, but in October, the recovery rate is lower at 8.5-9.0%. An early start to the season in the month of October would lead to 1.5% to 2% recovery losses to individual mills.