TOKYO -- The international price of raw sugar is surging, with the benchmark raw sugar currently trading at about 14 cents per pound on the New York futures market, up 30% on the month. Prices are expected to rise further due to a supply shortage resulting from adverse weather across the globe, possibly impacting on wholesale prices in Japan after January 2016.
Cane sugar production in Brazil is declining.
Raw sugar prices in late August hit 10.39 cents per pound, the lowest level in seven years and two months, but rallied from the end of September. Tsutomu Kosuge, head of research department at Daiki Sangyo, a Nagoya-based commodity information provider, said the weakening of the Brazilian real has slowed and now prices are seeing more emphasis placed on the supply-demand balance that is affected by the weather.
