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Insight Focus
- US Sugar Savannah Refinery LLC completes the purchase of Imperial Sugar Co.
- American sugar beet harvest ends.
- Sugar deliveries were slightly slower in Thanksgiving week.
Sugar markets were quiet last week, but the industry wasn’t without major news. Refined sugar supplies were tight, and prices were unchanged with a firm tone.
United States Sugar Savannah Refinery LLC on Nov. 28 notified customers it had completed the purchase of Imperial Sugar Co. from the Louis Dreyfus Co., a process that started in March 2021 and survived an attempt by the US Department of Justice to block the sale by a civil antitrust lawsuit, in which an appeal remains active. The general view in the trade is that the move will result in more consistent supplies in the Southeast.
The sugar beet harvest completed, and focus shifts to outside beet piles, with temperatures seeming to be sufficiently cold to keep piles frozen. The harvest of Louisiana’s large sugar cane crop was about a week behind the average pace. Florida’s cane harvest was slowed by rainfall in some areas.
Processors said deliveries of contracted sugar slowed Thanksgiving week and were expected to be down seasonally through the end of the year, in part due to scheduled downtime taken by some food manufacturers late in the year.
The lull was welcomed by sellers as deliveries through October were strong, with some buyers pulling material early because of increased needs or because of supplies shorted from other sellers. Users seeking additional supply on the spot market were faced with high prices for cane sugar and a lack of beet offers except from some distributors. Indications were 50-lb bags of beet sugar were selling around 80¢ a lb delivered in the South.
West Coast sources noted small amounts of bulk beet sugar were available from one seller around 59¢ f.o.b. Some imported sugar also was arriving in the West about three to four months behind schedule, but any supply was welcome.
One cane refiner continued to offer spot sugar at 68¢ a lb f.o.b. at all refinery locations through Dec. 31. That refiner also offered cane sugar for calendar 2023 at 61¢ a lb f.o.b. at all locations. One cane refiner was sold out for 2022-23 and others were well sold for the date. US sugar prices were high enough to encourage high-tier imports, sources said.
Some sales for the first quarter of 2023-24 (October-December 2023) and into early calendar 2024 were noted at steady levels. Recent offers for 2022-23 were 51¢ a lb f.o.b. Midwest for beet sugar and 52.50¢ a lb f.o.b. Southeast for refined cane sugar. Most sellers still were not quoting 2023-24 prices.
Contracting of corn sweeteners for 2023 mostly was completed by refiners, but a considerable amount of uncovered business remained. Most corn refiners offered product to existing customers only, and one offered less because of delivery issues in 2022. Buyers said it was no longer a matter of price, but that supply couldn’t be booked as any price.
