Informist, Friday, Jun 9, 2023

By Sayantan Sarkar 

MUMBAI – Ex-mill prices of sugar rose in key markets of North India and Maharashtra today on robust demand for the sweetener and concerns about deficient rainfall in major sugarcane-growing regions of the country.

The market will monitor the progress of the southwest monsoon in India as sugarcane is a water-intensive crop.

India Meteorological Department has said the monsoon finally hit Kerala on Thursday after a delay of more than a week. The weather bureau had earlier forecast that the monsoon was expected to hit Kerala's coast on Jun 4.

Deficient rainfall in the country would mean sugarcane production may be hit, which could lower the output of the sweetener. This is likely to be bullish for sugar prices.

Dealers also said demand has been reasonably good over the past two or three days, which has prompted mills to raise prices.

Following are the highlights of the sugar trade in the domestic market today:

--Up 5–10 rupees at 3,560-3,650 rupees per 100 kg in Muzaffarnagar

--Up 15–20 rupees at 3,620-3,712 rupees per 100 kg in Mumbai

--Up 15–20 rupees at 3,520-3,580 rupees per 100 kg in Kolhapur

At 1908 IST, the July futures contract of sugar on the Intercontinental Exchange was up 0.3% at 25.54 cents per pound. The contract rose for the third straight day on concerns about lower production in India and other top sugar producers. India is the second-largest producer of sugar.

In April, sugar prices had surged to an 11-year high of 27.41 cents per pound on concerns about lower production in India, Thailand and Europe. However, sugar prices started to ease in May on robust cane production in Brazil, the top producer of sugar.

Sugarcane crushing in Brazil's key south-central region rose 24.2% on year to 79 mln tn as of May 16, compared with 63.6 mln tn in the previous year, according to Brazil's sugarcane industry association UNICA. Brazil's sugar season starts in April and ends in March.  End

US$1 = 82.46 rupees

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

Edited by Rajeev Pai

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