Sugar (global market)

Sugar market in Russia

Main article: Sugar (Russian market)

2023: Price rises to 10-year record

Sugar prices rose to their highest level in more than a decade by April 2023 amid growing concern over limited global supply, threatening to keep pressure on global food inflation.

2017: EU plan to reduce sugar imports and boost exports

In March 2017, it was revealed that Europe was set to deal a crushing blow to trade, which once accounted for nearly a fifth of total imports.

The EU's decision to lift restrictions on its beet sugar products since October 2017 means a decline in demand for sugarcane producers from Jamaica in the Caribbean to the Pacific island of Fiji and Swaziland in southern Africa.

EU Sugar Import/Export Change Plan

Jamaica, Belize and Mauritius were among 10 countries that benefited from duty-free shipments of 1.6 million metric tons of unrefined sugar to the EU in 2015-16.

EU Sugar Market, Key Suppliers in 2015-2016

And as long as countries maintain these privileges, their plantations will be able to compete with EU farmers, whose incomes and crop volumes are growing. The level of European production could rise by about 17% to more than 20 million tons, and imports could drop by about half if changes are introduced, Rabobank said.

Fiji, Mauritius, Belize and Guyana export about 80% of sugar to the EU, Jamaica - 60%, according to a report by LMC International Ltd. Some also have some of the highest spending levels.

Belize and Guyana produce less than 6 tonnes of sugar per hectare, compared to an average of about 10 tonnes for giants like the LMC Brazil says. They send cane sugar to Europe, with about a third coming through the UK. Shipments from most other countries are subject to high import duties.

Manufacturers have already reduced dependence on the industry, which makes up a small part of their economy. Mauritius has expanded its textile and tourism business. The country has increased recycling to add value to its crops and aims to sell specialised types of sugar such as raw cane sugar and demerara.

Nevertheless, for many countries, sugar remains one of the main exports and a source of hard currency and employment in rural areas.

Countries' dependence on sugar exports

"Despite the fact that we depend on it now and we will depend on it for some time, we need to move to high value-added products: ethanol and rum. You know, Jamaica is famous for good Jamaican rum, "noted Carl Samouda, Jamaica's Minister of Agriculture and Industry

While sugarcane accounts for about 80% of total sweetener production, producers risk not only losing their most important market, but also facing new competing exporters such as expanding European producers. This will increase supply in the market and reduce prices.

Rabobank estimates that European producers that produce premium sugar at world prices can go through a decline to below 100 euros ($106) per ton from 146 euros from 2009 to 2016.

1973: Britain joins the EEC and seeks sugar benefits for former colonies

EU trade and economic cooperation with Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific countries that produce sugar began with the birth of the European Economic Community in 1957. After joining the EEC in 1973, the United Kingdom entered into an extension agreement for the bloc of trade relations on a preferential basis, which it offered to former colonies.

The system has evolved from fixed-price purchases to duty-free access. Imperial possessions such as Barbados lived off the trade of sugar and slaves who lived and died working on plantations.

The result not only changed European tastes, leaving jam and tea with sugar and coffee to be loved by the masses, but also earned a fortune that stimulated capital and insurance markets in London and Amsterdam. The demand for cast iron and machinery used in sugar processing and petroleum refining, as well as the extra calories that fed the developing working class, led to the industrial revolution.

19th century: France launches sugar production from beets due to blockade of Britain

The European beet industry has its roots in one of the defining events of European history: the British naval blockade of Napoleonic France in the early 19th century, which led the French to seek an alternative to Caribbean supplies.

XVII century: Europe begins to consume sugar

Europeans "sugar addiction changed the world. Sugar plantations in the West Indies, built back in the 17th century, contributed to the concentration of trade, capital and production, which subsequently turned into an industrial revolution and created the ground for the development of modern financial markets.