Further fragility in sugar prices forecast

20 February 1998

Further fragility in sugar prices forecast

SUGAR broker ED&F Man has upgraded its projections from a global raw sugar surplus of 430,000 tonnes to 1.45 million tonnes.

This is likely to lead to further price fragility, it says. International
prices for raw sugar have already fallen by about 10% in the past month.

Carnikow, another broker, has also just published an updated assessment.
It forecasts that overall world consumption will increase by less than 1% this
year – less than half the rate achieved in recent years.

It attributes the downturn mainly to flat consumption in parts of Asia this year against 4% annual growth for the region as a whole during the past 10 years.

• Financial Times 20/02/98 page 31