Non-EU beat growers fear for prices amid sugar surplus forecast

Projections of a global sugar surplus this year are creating price anxieties for non-EU beet producers, a situation in marked contrast with fears of undersupply among some EU sugar-based industries.

In its first Sugar Quarterly of 2012, Rabobank projects a global sugar surplus of six million tonnes for the 2011/12 international crop year. While the harvests of the EU, Russia and Ukraine have ended, output expectations for key states such as China, India and Thailand will take another month or two to confirm.

However, the projections for Brazil’s sugar cane harvest — due from April onwards — range from 500m to 560m tonnes. If this finishes at the upper end of the projections, the ensuing surplus could drag more heavily on international prices.