The price paid to sugarcane growers and millers for the 2022 Crop has been finalised at Rs 25,554 per ton sugar produced. This represents a remarkable increase of 52% over the previous crop’s price of Rs 16,765 per ton sugar.
This outcome results from an exceptional combination of high world market prices, a sugar deficit in the EU further to its weather-afflicted crop, which has therefore made it become more reliant on imports, and a surge in its production costs following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Consequently, EU prices have almost doubled compared with the preceding year and over 80% of our exports have therefore been directed to this market, from some 45% in the preceding campaign.
While the cost of energy has now subsided, production in the EU will not increase substantially over the new 2023/24 campaign given the acreage reduction in France and insufficient rain over a noteworthy area, and it will still be reliant on imports, against a global market with no surplus. Market conditions can still change thereafter, especially as other world producers will be enticed to increase output, thereby reducing the deficit and impacting on market prices. 7 July 2023