Sugar demand is falling back into line after the pandemic caused increased industrial demand. The American Sugar Alliance says right now, the market is stable.
“We’re expecting to see generally either a small surplus or a small deficit in terms of the world balance sheet. That means the prices, barring any unforeseen, you know, supply shock. Due to weather, we’re not expected to see real big changes in the world market going forward, and that means that the U.S. price will probably be pretty stable, too at that $0.38 to $0.40 range raw sugar,” said Dr. Robert Johansen.
Policy is also on the minds of growers. Just recently, CoBank, along with more than 50 other financial groups, told lawmakers improvements to sugar policy will help family farmers. This follows a 30 percent increase in the cost of growing sugarbeets and cane since the 2018 Farm Bill. Lenders caution that failure to act could lead producers to default on their operating loans, potentially jeopardizing sugar production.
