Traders looking at sugar commodity trading as a way to gain exposure to commodities as an asset class have some great opportunities, particularly with global agricultural prices looking set for long term increases. In the early 1970’s sugar prices surged over 60 cents a pound and by over 40 cents a pound in the early 1980’s at the tail end of the 1970’s commodity bull market. Following the adverse impact of the global economic crisis in 2008, commodities in general and sugar commodity prices in particular are advancing strongly again, with sugar prices are at their highest for 28 years.

Across Asia consumers are having serious difficulty finding sugar because of the severe shortages. Consider that in 2007 India was a five million tons net exporter of sugar yet two years later it has become a net importer by a similar amount. Global sugar demand is outstripping supply, caused by a series of factors. A collapse in the US dollar against other major currencies and hopes of a global recovery are driving real asset prices higher. Add to that very bad weather in Brazil and a weak monsoon in India has affected yields which results in raw sugar prices moving towards an historic high of 25 cents a pound.

Firstly, as you embark on your sugar commodity trading journey, discover where sugar comes from, and see how a recent development in alternative fuels poses a challenge to global sugar commodity markets in future. With sugar produced in over 100 countries, largely from the tropical and sub-tropical areas of the southern hemisphere, around 75-80% comes from sugarcane. A key factor for successful crop yields is plentiful rainfall, and the annual optimum is around 600 mm. Sugar prices on world commodity exchanges can also be driven higher by crop infestation as a result of attacks by pests.

Key producing nations are led by Brazil, also the largest global exporter, then India, China, the EU, USA and Australia. Subsidy regimes in Europe and the US are a major distorting factor in world sugar markets, as they artificially support producers giving them prices higher than the world sugar price. As well as established uses in fruit and vegetable products and in bread fermentation, sugar is now increasingly used as a source of ethanol fuel.

Balance between supply was quite tight in 2007 and seems almost certain to remain or worsen as demand is projected to grow in developing Asian nations, particularly the BRIC nations like China and India. India is the largest consumer in the world and it is growing its use of sugar for ethanol as an alternative fuel. China is the world’s third largest consumer and producer, with its per capita sugar consumption increasing from a very low base of around 7kg per annum (US per capita consumption of 45kg per annum).

Brazil is the largest world producer and understanding this market will help your sugar commodity trading strategy. Brazil aims to avoid a sugar glut by using the potential excess sugarcane crop to produce ethanol for biodiesel, an alternative to petroleum-derived gasoline. Growing use of sugar to produce ethanol has arisen alongside increases in crude oil prices and a surge in demand for sugar in China. With high crude oil prices likely in the future coupled with growing demand, producers face huge challenges to avoid higher sugar prices.

Armed with your chosen commodity trading system and good advice from your professional financial adviser, you can trade from almost anywhere in the world with good internet access. The #11 Raw sugar futures on the ICE US Futures platform is the most heavily traded sugar futures contract globally, followed by the #16 Sugar futures contract. It is also possible to use LIFFE CONNECT, part of the NYSE Euronext Group, to trade raw sugar futures. For those hesitant about leveraging in futures, an alternative could be to look at a soft commodity index using an ETF. Broadly speaking, higher sugar prices suggests sugar commodity trading looks very exciting going forward, given growing sugar consumption in the BRIC economies and rising demand for bio ethanol.

Focusing on soft commodities, the author, Marianna Gomes, contributes articles to the Commodity Trading Today website, a helpful educational resource. Learn more about how you could benefit from sugar commodity trading tips here. Don’t reprint this exact article. Instead, reprint a free unique content version of this same article.