Ag Futures: Sugar Rushes Higher on Global Shortfall

Sugar prices exploded this week, pushing over 23 cents per pound, the highest level in more than four years. Prices have more than doubled during the last year as a global sugar shortfall looms after two years of disappointing harvests. Sugar is produced around the world, extracted from sugarcane in tropical climates and sugar beets in higher latitudes, but almost half of all sugar production comes from just three countries: Brazil, India, and Thailand. All three nations’ sugarcane crops were hurt by the recent El Nino cycle, which stripped them of much-needed rains...more