Are the EU sugar policy makers on extended leave?
One of the great achievements of the EU sugar policy makers was to make the EU sugar industry globally competitive before letting it loose on the global market place. During […]
Exemplary treatment of cane cutters in Guatemala
“When I feed the poor, they call me a saint, but when I ask why the poor are hungry, they call me a communist. Dom Helder Camara Since the birth […]
Brazil and Australia’s complaint to WTO against India is a mere distraction
Not many years ago, India was a wildcard in the sugar market. Periodic swings in output would tip the global sugar price one way or the other. At the time, […]
Various strategies of top sugar companies facing reduced profitability
As the Chinese proverb goes “When the wind of change blows, some build walls, while others build windmills.” To wit, the metaphorical turbulence that is the hallmark of the global […]
Sugar production expansion in Thailand has come to a halt
In September 2016, the Thai government approved building of 25 new sugar factories, which, if built, by the scheduled 2021, would increase the number of factories in the country to […]
Brazil’s constant recourse to WTO
Well remember sharing a rickshaw with a couple of executives from Sudzucker several years ago in Mumbai while heading back from the conference venue to our hotel. I asked them […]
Reflections on the year
In the last quarter of this year, the market got excited over the prospect of a global deficit in 2018/19, driving the sugar price from the low of 9.91 cents/lb […]
Global surplus, low prices and diversification
In the recent past, right across the global sugar sector, many sugar companies, big and small have been hit by low prices amidst global surplus. For many of these companies, […]
Cross-subsidies, export subsidies, cant!
The sugar sector is one of the important agro-industries, particularly in emerging and developing economies where its support for rural development is fairly important. Globally, the industry is not informed […]
The lure of Australian sugar companies to foreign investors
In his posthumous collection of travel writing the Unfinished Journey, the engaging and acerbic novelist Shiva Naipaul posed the question, why, with Australia surrounded by its Asian neighbours was discovered […]