Cepea, September 16, 2024 – White crystal sugar prices moved up in the spot market of São Paulo state in the first fortnight of September. The long period of dry weather, high temperatures and wildfires in cane crops in late August sustained values. According to data from Unica, wildfires hit 231.8 thousand hectares of sugarcane in the interior of São Paulo in the second fortnight of last month.
In this scenario, the CEPEA/ESALQ Index for white crystal sugar (Icumsa from 30 to 180) rose 5.26% from August 30 to September 13, closing at BRL 140.46 per 50-kilo bag on Sept. 13.
The demand for crystal sugar increased in early September in the spot market of São Paulo. However, this does not seem to indicate that the market was firm; it indicates that purchasers were trying to guarantee stocks, fearing more price rises in the short-term.
Unica data indicate that the Central-Southern area in Brazil produced 43.941 million tons of sugarcane in the first fortnight of August, moving down 8.57% against that verified in the same period last year.
(Cepea-Brazil)
