The sugar exports from the European Union, which abolished their production limits in 2017, may have already reached their peak. That's what Friedrich Becker from Südzucker said in a Reuters interview in New York today.
It expects sugar exports from the European Union to reach 1.4 to 2.4 million tonnes in the 2018/19 marketing year. In the current financial year, it is 3.2 million tonnes.
Europe's beet growers increased their production even before the lifting of EU sugar quotas in October 2017. Production increased by more than 20%. However, the expectation of further increases is clouded as sugar prices on the world market have dropped to a multi-year low and more sugar is being produced in Thailand and India.
Compared to the marketing year 2017/18, sugarbeet farmers in the EU did not further expand their acreage in the following year. In addition, yields could be smaller and imports should also decline.
EU sugar exports will probably not increase for the time being. A previous export record before the introduction of the sugar market regulation was 6.9 million tons.During the sugar market regime, Südzucker only exported smaller quantities in the order of 200,000 tonnes, according to Becker. In anticipation of the end of volume regulation, the company rebuilt its export department and exports rose over 800,000 tons of sugar, which was exported to countries of the Middle East as well as northern and western Africa.
Text: HANSA Derivatives Trading GmbH /
