Global Sugar Traders Visit Region

Two of Wilmar’s global sugar traders shared the latest market intel with Proserpine canegrowers earlier this month, during a series of grower meetings in north and central Queensland.

Senior sugar traders, Peter Bingham from London and Neil Foo Zhizhou from Singapore, spent a week visiting Wilmar’s milling regions and addressing large grower turnouts.

Peter dived into the supply and demand fundamentals pulled together by the Wilmar global team.

Behind Peter and Neil sit a team of re- search analysts and a global network of information sources. The granular detail they can talk to regarding the demand and supply issues in each of the origin and consumption destinations is impressive. In short, the near-term outlook remains supportive of prices.

Even with the elevated price there is only minor demand destruction, which is growing globally at roughly 2 million tonnes of sugar a year.

The past few years have seen a substantial drawdown of global stocks as demand continues to outstrip supply, so there is little room for a slip-up in the current Brazilian crop.

Moreover, the potential for development of the El Nino weather pattern has traders alert to possible delays in the ongoing Brazilian harvest and the risk to the Indian monsoon which is critical to the next major crop supply.

Neil Foo Zhizhou focused on the macro factors affecting the sugar market and presented some possible longer-term scenarios.

A major element of his thesis is the massive amount of US dollar debt that is pro-