2023-11-20T05:11:24+00:00
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/ Sugar prices rose around the world to reach the highest level recorded since 2011, due to a decline in global supplies after unusually dry weather damaged crops in India and Thailand, the world’s second and third largest sugar exporters.
This is the latest blow to the two developing countries, which are already suffering from shortages of basic foodstuffs such as rice, in addition to the ban imposed on food trade, which has led to food price inflation.
All of this contributes to food insecurity due to the effects of the El Nino climate phenomenon, the war in Ukraine, and weak currencies.
Wealthier Western countries can absorb the higher costs of food, but poorer countries will suffer.
In addition, Fabio Palmieri, a researcher in global commodity markets at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), says that the organization expects a 2 percent decline in global sugar production in the 2023-2024 season, compared to the previous year, which means a loss of about 3.5 million tons. Metric of product.
Sugar is increasingly used in the production of biofuels such as ethanol, and thus global sugar reserves have reached their lowest levels since 2009.
Brazil is the world’s largest exporter of sugar, but its production will only help fill the gaps until late 2024.
Until then, import-dependent countries, like most countries in sub-Saharan Africa, remain vulnerable.
Nigeria, for example, buys 98 percent of its raw sugar from other countries.
The country banned imports of refined sugar in 2021, which conflicts with a plan to manufacture sugar locally, and the government announced a $73 million project to expand sugar infrastructure, but these are long-term strategies.
The reason for the current crisis is partly due to the “El Nino” phenomenon, which is a natural phenomenon that changes global weather patterns and may cause severe weather conditions ranging from drought to floods.
Last August was the driest month in India in more than a century, and crop growth stopped in the western state of Maharashtra, which represents more than a third of India’s sugarcane production.
Sugar production in India is likely to decline by 8 percent this year, according to the Indian Sugar Mills Association.
India, the world’s most populous country, is the largest consumer of sugar and is now restricting its exports.
In this context, Naradep Anantasuk, President of the Sugar Growers Association in Thailand, said that the effects of the “El Nino” phenomenon at the beginning of the growing season in his country not only changed the quantity of the crop, but also its quality.
Anantasuk expects to grind only 76 million metric tons of sugarcane during the 2024 harvest season, compared to 93 million metric tons this year.
A report issued by the US Department of Agriculture expected sugar production in Thailand to decline by 15 percent last October.
The world now has a stock of sugar to meet its needs for less than 68 days, compared to 106 days when sugar production began to decline in 2020, according to data from the US Department of Agriculture.