After initially opening to the downside, dipping briefly back below 21c/lb, Friday’s session on the raw sugar market has broadly carried on the upwards momentum seen throughout the week. Whilst gains throughout the morning were fairly modest, only climbing around 10 points to around 21.1c/lb, this began to pick up steam once the US day began. Strong buying saw prices lurch higher before finding some resistance around 21.3c/lb, it’s highest in over 2 months. The market closed for the week with the March’25 settling at 21.31c/lb, and the March-May spread climbing slightly to almost 140 points ahead of their final week on the board.

Month Open High Low Sett Chg Last Vol O/I
Mar’25 21.05 21.35 20.95 21.31 0.26 21.31 25,009 103,819
May’25 19.75 19.96 19.60 19.92 0.17 19.91 65,434 385,199
Jul’25 19.28 19.50 19.16 19.47 0.18 19.46 28,764 175,704
Oct’25 19.27 19.47 19.17 19.45 0.17 19.44 20,620 123,273
Mar’26 19.50 19.70 19.43 19.68 0.17 19.66 15,916 85,653
May’26 18.54 18.67 18.49 18.66 0.08 18.65 5,149 40,044
Jul’26 17.99 18.08 17.95 18.07 0.04 18.06 3,696 28,065
Oct’26 17.85 17.93 17.80 17.92 0.03 17.92 1,515 23,497
Mar’27 18.03 18.11 17.98 18.10 0.02 18.09 777 12,470
May’27 17.51 17.57 17.51 17.57 0.02 17.56 646 5,699
Jul’27 17.24 17.29 17.23 17.29 0.02 17.28 441 6,740
                 
Total             167,967 990,163

A volatile start to the session on the whites market saw prices trade quickly trade 5USD/mt either side of the open before settling into the same upward grind as over on the raws. Aside from a few brief drops, the morning saw relatively orderly buying, reaching the halfway point in the day at 554.9USD/mt. The second half of the session saw more frentic buying, quickly pushing prices up a further 4USD/mt before running out of momentum around 559USD/mt. From here the May’25 contract pushed slightly higher again before giving much of it back on the close, settling the week at 559.6USD/mt. The May-May white premium contracted slightly, closing at 119USD/mt, down from last week’s high’s but still considerably stronger than the sub-100USD environment only last month.

Month Open High Low Sett Chg Last Vol O/I
May’25 551.00 561.30 548.50 560.20 4.80 560.00 10,562 53,201
Aug’25 532.10 541.70 529.20 541.10 5.30 541.10 3,359 22,512
Oct’25 521.40 529.90 518.10 529.60 4.70 529.40 1,229 9,951
Dec’25 515.70 523.40 513.50 523.30 4.40 523.00 235 4,108
Mar’26 514.10 522.20 514.10 521.90 3.70 521.50 223 3,960
May’26 514.50 518.00 514.40 518.10 3.10 518.00 27 1,774
Aug’26 512.00 512.00 512.00 513.70 2.40 512.00 11 1,395
Oct’26 506.70 508.20 506.50 508.10 1.60 508.20 39 872
Dec’26 504.10 505.20 503.60 505.50 0.80 505.20 29 725
Mar’27          –              –              –   505.10 0.60 502.70 1 233
May’27          –              –              –   500.70 0.60 –            –   185
Aug’27          –              –              –   496.80 0.60 –            –                –  
Oct’27          –              –              –   496.10 0.60 –            –                –  
Dec’27          –              –              –   494.90 0.60 –            –                –  
Total             15,715 98,916

Jon Whybrow

Jon joined CZ in 1991, working in the Treasury department before moving to join the derivatives team in 1994. Over 30 years Jon has built up significant experience across derivatives markets and products, particularly sugar, and is now Head of Flow derivatives providing market execution services for CZ’s global client base. He is responsible for the market commentaries which are published each day on CZ app.

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