Sugar Economics

Sugar is grown from two main sources: sugar cane and sugar beet. Both produce the identical refined sugar product. Sugar cane is a bamboo-like grass grown in semi-topical regions and equatorial region where rain is plentiful and the strong direct sunlight nourished the cane. Cane sugar accounts for about 70% of world production. Beet sugar comes from the sugar beet plant, which grows in temperate climates and accounts for the balance of world production. In temperate weather, disease, insects, soil quality and cultivation affect both cane and beet production, as do trade agreements and price support programs. Brazil, India, China, Thailand, Cuba and Mexico are among the leading sugar cane producers. European Union nations, the Russian Federation and Ukraine produce the majority of all sugar beets. Most sugar is either consumed in the country where it is produced under government controlled pricing arrangements or moved from one country to another under long-term supply agreements. The sugar not subject to such agreements is freely traded among a number of nations, corporations and individuals. This makes the market for sugar a "residual" market - a market in which freely traded sugar is only a fraction of worldwide production. 

ICUMSA: What Does it Mean?

In order to attempt to help, let us quote the following from the ICUMSA Handbook:

   1. "ICUMSA (International Commission for Uniform Methods of Sugar Analysis) is a world-wide body which brings together the activities of the National Committees for Sugar Analysis in more than thirty member countries. Work is carried out under various Subject headings, each headed by a Referee. Methods are recommended for tentative approval by ICUMSA in the first instance. Upon meeting all of the Commission's requirements, methods are accorded official status. Methods which are demonstrably useful and have found an established application, or which do not lend themselves to collaborative testing are given an Accepted status"

   2. An ICUMSA rating is an international unit for expressing the purity of the sugar in solution, and is directly related to the color of the sugar. Be aware that there are different types of ICUMSA units. For Brazilian sugar, the lower the ICUMSA figure the whiter the sugar. However, this is not the case in the E.U. for some unknown reason, which has been the subject of much discussion.