Sweet price relief
A supply glut in the world sugar market is forcing down prices.
STAFF REPORTER
Namib Mills has announced a 16% drop in its Sugar King white sugar product and an 11% decrease in the price of brown sugar.
The company yesterday said there was an oversupply of sugar in global markets and a strengthening of the South African rand and consequently the Namibian dollar against the American dollar as compared to last year.
“These factors triggered more affordable sugar from international sources, which in turn prompted a price decrease from large sugar producers in South Africa,” the statement read.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) announced in its April index that while sugar prices were falling, the cost of cereals and dairy was continuing to increase. Vegetable oil and meat markets also remained under downward pressure.
The FAO sugar price index was 24% lower than its April 2017 value.
“Continued declines in sugar price quotations since last December are largely a reflection of a supply glut in the sugar market, especially in view of record outputs in Thailand and in India, the world’s second largest sugar producing country.”
In the same index, cereals were 15.4% higher than at the same time in 2017. Prices have followed an upward trend for the fourth consecutive month, with prices of wheat, coarse grains and rice all gaining momentum in recent months. In the case of wheat, weather-related risks, especially in the United States, and robust trade provided support to prices, while expectations of lower plantings in the United States, on the backdrop of drought-reduced production in Argentina, continued to push up international maize prices. Rice prices, on the other hand, increased, following a fresh round of public purchases by Indonesia and the launch of a state import tender by the Philippines.”
Dairy prices averaged 11% higher than in April 2017, the FAO said, due to a strong demand for imports of milk products combined with market apprehensions regarding export availabilities in New Zealand following a bigger than anticipated decline in its milk output.
Meat was relatively stable registering a small decrease in pork and beef while ovine and poultry remained unchanged.
Namib Mills has announced a 16% drop in its Sugar King white sugar product and an 11% decrease in the price of brown sugar.
The company yesterday said there was an oversupply of sugar in global markets and a strengthening of the South African rand and consequently the Namibian dollar against the American dollar as compared to last year.
“These factors triggered more affordable sugar from international sources, which in turn prompted a price decrease from large sugar producers in South Africa,” the statement read.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) announced in its April index that while sugar prices were falling, the cost of cereals and dairy was continuing to increase. Vegetable oil and meat markets also remained under downward pressure.
The FAO sugar price index was 24% lower than its April 2017 value.
“Continued declines in sugar price quotations since last December are largely a reflection of a supply glut in the sugar market, especially in view of record outputs in Thailand and in India, the world’s second largest sugar producing country.”
In the same index, cereals were 15.4% higher than at the same time in 2017. Prices have followed an upward trend for the fourth consecutive month, with prices of wheat, coarse grains and rice all gaining momentum in recent months. In the case of wheat, weather-related risks, especially in the United States, and robust trade provided support to prices, while expectations of lower plantings in the United States, on the backdrop of drought-reduced production in Argentina, continued to push up international maize prices. Rice prices, on the other hand, increased, following a fresh round of public purchases by Indonesia and the launch of a state import tender by the Philippines.”
Dairy prices averaged 11% higher than in April 2017, the FAO said, due to a strong demand for imports of milk products combined with market apprehensions regarding export availabilities in New Zealand following a bigger than anticipated decline in its milk output.
Meat was relatively stable registering a small decrease in pork and beef while ovine and poultry remained unchanged.
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