EU ‘will be No 1 driver of global sugar beef prices’ when quota ends

The European Union will become the number one driver of global sugar beet prices once the quota era comes to an end, according to UK investment brokerage Marex Spectron.

A new Marex report has signalled to its commodity investor clients that they now need to put as much time into studying French and German beet production as they previously put into trends in the Brazilian sugar beet industry.

“The EU is the one major market which has absolutely no influence on the world market since 2008 but which, we think, is going to become the most important factor in the world market,” Marex stated. “If the world price is too low, EU farmers can respond by sowing the minimum, and turning the EU into a substantial importer of sugar.”