Brazil to lose its share of global sugar market

Brazil will lose a significant share of the global sugar trade to competitors in the current season as price levels make it unprofitable for most mills to produce the sweetener, Reuters informs.

Analysts are forecasting a reduction in sugar production in Brazil’s center-south in 2018-19 of up to six million tons compared to the previous season. Mills are looking to produce as much ethanol as possible in search of better returns.

According to data from brokerage and consultancy INTL FCStone, compiled by Reuters, Brazilian exportable surplus would fall from 30 million tons in the 2016-17 global crop year (October/September) to 22.2 million tons in the current crop year.

Considering those numbers, Brazil’s share of the global sugar market would fall from 52 to 35 percent, losing space mainly to India, Thailand and the European Union, who have all produced bumper crops.

Earlier it was reported that Ukraine exported 338.1 thou. tons of sugar in September-March of MY2017/18.

Note: Ukrainian sugar market in 2017 was dominated by 10 companies.