White Sugar Futures
Sugar holds significant importance in both agriculture and food sectors, with approximately 176 million metric tons of sugar consumed worldwide in 2022/23, according to a report from Statista .
Projections suggest a further increase to around 180.05 million metric tons by the conclusion of 2023/2024, underscoring the commodity's crucial role. Given its pivotal position, sugar futures represent actively traded commodities in the market.
Orient Futures Singapore offers a wide range of commodity futures exchanges. One of them being ICE White Sugar Futures on ICE Futures Europe (IPE) as well as is ICE’s (Intercontinental Exchange US, NYBOT) Sugar No.11 Futures.
Apart from ICE, Orient Futures Singapore also offers other commodity futures such as white sugar futures, soybean futures, rapeseed futures from other exchanges. This includes Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE), Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE), Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange (ZCE), Singapore Exchange Derivatives Trading Limited (SGX) and more.
As we usher in the new year of 2024, this article aims to recap the performance of White Sugar Futures in 2023 and explore what lies ahead for White Sugar Futures in 2024.
Trading Sugar Futures on ICE
The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) provides a range of sugar futures contracts across its different exchanges. Traders can trade ICE White Sugar Futures on ICE Futures Europe (IPE) through Orient Futures Singapore.
Click here to find out more on ICE White Sugar Futures Contract Specifications, ICE Exchange trading hours and ICE White Sugar Futures Symbol.
In addition to IPE, ICE Futures US (NYBOT) also offers a futures contract for raw sugar, known as the Sugar No.11 Futures.
Beyond sugar futures contracts, ICE extends its offerings to various other commodities futures contracts. These include ICE Futures Singapore (ICE Singapore) Mini Brent Crude Futures, Mini US Dollar Index Futures, Cotton Futures, and more. This presents traders with a diverse range of investment options.
Orient Futures Singapore is futures trading Singapore regulated broker that offers contracts from different futures exchanges and trading platforms.
White Sugar Futures 2023 Performance
Figure 1. ICE White Sugar Futures Price Chart from Jan to Dec 2023 from ICE
According to Trading Economics, Sugar increased 0.88 Cents/LB or 4.39% since the beginning of 2023, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks the benchmark market for this commodity.
Concerns about uncertain production and export prospects in Asia, India, and Thailand causing a shortage in supply might have been one of the contributing factors to the increase in prices in 2023. Find out more in the October Updates here.
White Sugar Futures Market News
This latest White Sugar market news is based on Orient Research Weekly Report on Agricultural Products dated 17 December 2023 and other sited sources.
Sugar Supply and Demand
The latest data from Brazil's Unica showed that sugar production in the central-southern region increased by 35% to 1.4 million tons in the second half of November compared to the same period last year, exceeding market expectations. By the end of November, cumulative sugar production reached 40.82 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 23.5%.
As of now, 78 sugar mills have started crushing, far fewer than the 178 in the same period last year, with an additional 98 expected to start in the first half of December.
Due to strong production and large inventories, sugar shipping activity in Brazilian ports remains robust, and December's sugar exports from Brazil are expected to be substantial.
There are reports that India allows up to 1.7 million tons of sugar to be used for ethanol production in the 23/24 crushing season. ISMA expects sugar production in India in the 23/24 season to reach 32.5 million tons, with an expected surplus of 4 million tons. However, whether India will export is still uncertain, considering the low carryover stocks from the previous season, the risks of sugarcane production in the next season, and the government's concern about inflation in the election year.
The surplus in the 23/24 season may be used more for building stocks, and there is still a possibility of export bans. The export policy may be decided at least after February next year when the production situation becomes clear or after the elections in May.
ICE Sugar Futures Price
ICE raw sugar continued its weak decline last week, but the downward trend slowed down. The near-month March contract fell to 21-22 cents/pound due to better-than-expected sugar production in Brazil and India's adjustment of ethanol policies, which improved the sugar supply outlook and continued to put pressure on the market.
As of the week ending December 12, the net long position of ICE raw sugar futures and options funds has dropped to 6.7%, with fund long positions falling to a recent low of 150,000 contracts.
After a massive, long liquidation, the market's bearish sentiment has been released. Given the unclear export situation in India's new crushing season, expectations of reduced production in Thailand, and the possibility of rain hindering exports in Brazil in the first quarter, coupled with the high spread of white sugar, the downside space for the external market is expected to be limited.
Sugar Futures 2024 Market Outlook
According to Trading Economics, Sugar is expected to trade at 22.51 Cents/LB by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts’ expectations. Looking forward, they estimate it to trade at 24.14 in 12 months’ time.
Start Trading With Orient Futures Singapore
Overseas Intermediary of Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE), Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE), and Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange (ZCE), when foreign clients participate in internationalised futures contracts in these Chinese markets with us, they have direct access to trading, clearing, and settlement. Our parent company, Shanghai Orient Futures, is the largest broker in terms of aggregated volume across the five regulated exchanges in China.
Orient Futures Singapore also currently holds memberships at the Singapore Exchange (SGX), Asia Pacific Exchange (APEX), and ICE Futures Singapore (ICE SG). Starting August 2023, corporate clients can also gain access to the B3 Exchange through us.
We provide bespoke services to our professional clients, tailored to their corporate and individual needs. Our team will be there for you 24 hours on trading days to provide a one-stop portal for all your trades, with simple processes and an intuitive user interface that has low or near-to-zero latency.
