LOW SUGAR PRICES. WHEN


ENOUGH IS


ENOUGH? The life of a sugar producer, no matter if from Cane or Beet hasn’t been easy. The expansion of land usage mainly in India, even at the time of low prices is causing low prices to stay with us longer than many producers would had expected.


 Cane Millers switched the Cane Juice to Ethanol   may not change much in 2019/20.


 slowed down (1.09% average in the past 6 years), given the economic issues in some countries like  wars in the Middle East (Syria and Yemen), not to mention the lack of hard currencies in some African countries.


So, combining the higher production levels with low consumption growth and we still have a surplus on our hands, although less than the years before.


We estimate a total surplus of 10,4 mln m/t in the past 4 years to April 2019 and most of the extra exportable sugars are in India followed by Thailand, Mexico and some Central American countries.


Looking forward, one would expect that low sugar   the high level of debt of many Millers, many are going into chapter 11 bankruptcy.


The books and experiences tell us that the solution   that makes sense, but as long as someone steps in (Indian Gov.) and “encourages” exports (US$ 155 per m/t), low prices may take a bit longer to impact overall production.


As we know, the Indian Government has an issue on their hands i.e. high sugar production which leads to high stocks and therefore a heavy domestic market. This is not the case in many countries, where the domestic market is not as high as is in India (around US$ 475 per m/t).


  is not high enough to allow for old debts to be 


28 | ADMISI - The Ghost In The Machine | May/June 2019


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