Brazil Sugar Crop Woes Push Prices Higher
Sugar prices climbed Wednesday, with NY sugar reaching a 7-month high due to Brazil’s drought reducing production. Rabobank cut its Brazil sugar forecast for 2024/25, and fires in Sao Paulo caused significant crop damage. Meanwhile, India’s ethanol production changes could extend export curbs, and favorable monsoon rains may boost sugar output. Thailand’s projected sugar production increase also adds market pressure.
October NY world sugar #11 (SBV24) Wednesday closed up +0.30 (+1.30%), and December London ICE white sugar #5 (SWZ24) closed up +1.70 (+0.29%).
Sugar prices on Wednesday finished moderately higher, with NY sugar posting a 7-month high. Drought conditions in Brazil have reduced the country’s sugar production prospects and have pushed sugar prices sharply over the past two weeks. Last Friday, Rabobank cut its 2024/25 Brazil sugar production forecast to 39.3 MMT from a previous forecast of 40.3 MMT, citing excessive dryness.
Drought and excessive heat have caused recent fires in Brazil that damaged sugar crops in Brazil’s top sugar-producing state of Sao Paulo. Sugar cane industry group Orplana said that as many as 2,000 fire outbreaks affected up to 80,000 hectares of planted sugarcane in Sao Paulo. Green Pool Commodity Specialists said that as much as 5 MMT of sugar cane may have been lost due to the fires.
Sugar has carryover support from September 12, when Unica reported that Center-South sugar production in the second half of August fell -6.0% y/y to 3.258 MMT. Although, for the 2024/25 season through August, sugar production is up +3.9% y/y to 27.169 MMT.
In a supportive factor for sugar prices, the International Sugar Organization (ISO) on August 30 forecasted a 2024/25 global sugar deficit of -3.58 MMT, much larger than the estimated -200,000 MT deficit for 2023/24. ISO forecasted 2024/25 global sugar production of 179.3 MMT, down -1.1% y/y from 181.3 MMT in 2023/24.
Meanwhile, Conab, Brazil’s government crop forecasting agency, cut its 2024/25 Brazil Center South sugar production estimate on August 22 to 42 MMT from a previous forecast of 42.7 MMT, citing lower sugarcane yields due to drought and excessive heat.
In another supportive factor for sugar prices, India’s Food Ministry on August 30 lifted restrictions on sugar mills producing ethanol for the 2024/25 year that starts November, which may prolong India’s sugar export curbs. Last December, India ordered sugar mills to stop using sugarcane to produce ethanol for the 2023/24 supply year to boost its sugar reserves. India has restricted sugar exports since October 2023 to maintain adequate domestic supplies. India allowed mills to export only 6.1 MMT of sugar during the 2022/23 season to September 30 after allowing exports of a record 11.1 MMT in the previous season.
A bearish factor for sugar is optimism that above-average monsoon rains in India will lead to a bumper sugar crop. The Indian Meteorological Department reported last Friday that India received 874.6 mm of rain during the current monsoon season as of September 20, or 6% more than the comparable long-term average of 822 mm. India’s monsoon season runs from June through September.
The Indian Sugar and Bio-energy Manufacturers Association (ISM) on July 3 reported India’s 2023/24 sugar reserves at 9.1 MMT and reported a surplus of 3.6 MMT. Separately, the ISM reported on May 13 that India’s 2023/24 sugar production from Oct-Apr fell -1.6% y/y to 31.4 MMT. Also, the ISM on July 30 projected India’s 2024/25 sugar production would fall by -2% y/y to 33.31 MMT.
The outlook for higher sugar production in Thailand is bearish for sugar prices. On Tuesday, Thailand’s Office of the Cane and Sugar Board projected that Thailand’s 2024/25 sugar production would jump by +18% y/y to 10.35 MMT. Thailand produced 8.77 MMT of sugar in the 2023/24 season that ended in April. Thailand is the world’s third-largest sugar producer and the second-largest sugar exporter.
The USDA, in its bi-annual report released on May 23, projected that global 2024/25 sugar production would climb +1.4% y/y to a record 186.024 MMT and that global 2024/25 human sugar consumption would increase +0.8% y/y to a record 178.788 MMT. The USDA forecasted that 2024/25 global sugar ending stocks would fall -4.7% y/y to a 13-year low of 38.339 MMT.
Source: https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/brazil-sugar-crop-woes-push-prices-higher
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