World news

French farmers are expected to cut sharply their sowings of sugar beet for this year’s harvest while increasing the area for soft wheat and barley, the country’s farm ministry said on Tuesday. It is reported by Hellenic Shipping News. In its first estimate of the 2019 sugar beet area, the ministry pegged sowings at 455,000 hectares, down 6,3 percent from 2018. A smaller sugar beet are...

India's money-losing sugar mills have run up a record $4,38 billion (Rs 30,335 crore) in arrears to 50 million cane farmers, who have gone unpaid for their produce for more than a year. It is reported by Reuters. Years of bumper cane harvests and record sugar production have hammered domestic prices, hitting mills' financial health to such an extent that monies owed to farmers...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture slightly lowered its forecast of domestic beet and cane sugar production in the current 2018-19 marketing year that ends Sept. 30. It is reported by Baking Business. Beet sugar production was forecast at 4,997 million tonnes, down 7,000 tonnes from March and down 282,000 tonnes, or 5%, from record outturn of 5,279 million ...

In 2019/20, total European sugar production may fall from the 18,1 million tonnes S&P Global Platts has forecast for the 2018/2019 season. It is reported by S&P Global Platts. The French sugar beet planted area will fall to 455,000 hectares for the October 2019-September 2020 season, down 6,2% on the year, the French Agricult...

Brazil’s center-south region produced 26,5 million tonnes of sugar in the 2018/2019 crop, down from 36,06 million tonnes in the prior harvest, cane industry group Unica said on Tuesday. It is reported by Reuters. Mills in the main cane belt in Brazil crushed 573,07 million tonnes of cane versus 596,33 million tonnes and directed more of their production to ethanol instea...

Mills in Brazil’s main center-south cane growing region are predicted to allocate 36 percent of the 2019/20 crop to sugar production, near last season’s estimated record low of 35 percent, Sao Paulo-based Archer Consulting said It is reported by Reuters. While cane crushers continue to show a preference for ethanol, Archer’s figure is below consensus predictions of a sugar allocation of just below 40 percent in a Re...

Rating agency ICRA has revised downwards its sugar production target for 2019 to 30,7 million tonnes from its earlier estimate of 31,5 million tonnes due to a decline in Uttar Pradesh, the largest growing State. It is reported by BusinessLine. The agency, however, said even at this level, sugar supply will be higher than demand. ICRA on Friday said production may be further hit due to the diversion of &...

Brazil’s Raízen Energia SA, the world’s largest sugar maker, raised 900 million reais ($233 million) using Agribusiness Receivables Certificates (CRA), the company’s chief financial officer told on Monday. It is reported by Reuters. Guilherme Cerqueira, the CFO, said the company initially expected to earn 750 million reais from the operation but raised more due to demand, which exceeded expectations...

Farmers in western Europe have begun sugar beet planting, with first indications pointing to a drop in area for the next harvest after a price slump fueled by the end of European Union production quotas. It is reported by Reuters. The market downturn has prompted Europe’s biggest sugar refiner Suedzucker to announce the closure of several factories by 2020, which could lead farmers in affecte...

Rabobank on Wednesday forecast there would be a global sugar deficit of 4,3 million tonnes in 2019/2020 following a small surplus of 1,1 million tonnes in the prior season. It is reported by Reuters. The bank, in a quarterly report, said the deficit was driven partly by projected declines in output in India, Thailand and the European Union. Sugar production in Braz...