The Southern Hemisphere is the largest sugarcane producer in the world. As you can imagine, extreme heat and lack of rain lead to drought, which reduces the amount of sugarcane that can be harvested. However, it is not all bad news. Such weather may result in much smaller crops, but extreme heat can increase sucrose extraction from sugarcane.
On the other side of the equator are Russia and Europe, which are the largest beet production areas. Unfavorable weather conditions such as floods, frost, and snowfall put the crop at risk of stopping growth.
10. Australia
Sugar is probably not the first crop that comes to mind when you think of Australian agriculture (which is fair as sugarcane only makes up 2% of national agriculture), but Australia is the largest producer and exporter of raw sugar in Oceania, with 4.18 It produces million square meters of sugar. 95% of Australia's sugarcane is grown in the climate-diverse state of Queensland, which hosts many sugarcane plantations near its coast.
Considering that the domestic raw sugar market is only 1 MMT, Australia has to export 86% of its sugar, most of which goes to Japan, Indonesia and South Korea. However, exports have become less favorable due to lower sugar prices.
Many Australian mills have adopted the sustainable practice of using bagasse, a byproduct of sugar cane crushing, to power their boilers in a process known as cogeneration.
9.Pakistan
Sugarcane is a major cash crop for Pakistan, and unlike India and Brazil, Pakistan grows the plant almost exclusively for sugar extraction. In 2019/2020, the country produced 4.8 million meters of sugar, which is a 9% decrease compared to the previous season. From 2016/17 to 2019/20, Pakistan witnessed an annual decline in sugar production. Pakistan's sugar industry has been facing many challenges, including drought. For an agricultural economy like Pakistan, with sugarcane yields per hectare below the world average (46,000 vs. 60,000 respectively), this is a serious problem.
8.Mexic
In 2019/2020, the United States of Mexico produced 5.34 MMT of sugar, although this is 17% MMT less than the previous season. Bad weather is largely to blame, with the Gulf States of Veracruz, Oaxaca and Tabasco being the biggest producers. Although Mexico is the only Central American country on this list, Mexico ranks second in exports, behind Guatemala with 630,000 tons.
7.USA
America is not only a major player in the sugar market, but also dominant in ethanol production, albeit from corn rather than sugarcane. In 2019/20, the US produced 7.3 MMT of sugar. Beetroot is cultivated in the northern parts and sugarcane in the southeastern states.
Despite its place on the list, the US sugar market tends to fly solo as protecting domestic farmer incomes generally takes priority over cheaper imports. Many debate whether this is in the best interest of the country as a whole, or some argue that US sugar prices are artificially high. The price of domestic sugar has remained stable for decades and is traded using futures contract number 16.
6.Russia
The country is the largest producer of sugar beet and in 2019/2019 it far surpassed France (the top producer of beet in the European Union) and increased its production by 27% compared to 2018/19. Russia has doubled its sugar production in the past decade and plans to expand its beet planting area this year.
5.Thailand
In 2019/2020 alone, the second largest exporter of sugar in the world after Brazil, exported 7.7 million tons of 8.27 million meters of raw and white sugar produced. The northeastern and central regions of the country account for approximately 70% of the sugar produced (mainly raw). Most of Thailand's sugar cane is harvested by hand because the machinery required for mechanized harvesting is unaffordable for many small farmers.
4.China
Only eight countries in the world produce both sugar cane and sugar beet, and China is one of them. In 2019/2020, China produced 10.41 million meters of sugar.
Guangxi, an autonomous region in the country, accounts for 65 percent of China's sugar production and more than 20 million workers in sugarcane farming. Droughts and floods threaten the harvest in this region, and in 2009, a historic drought reduced production to 2.15 MMT. Since then, irrigation has been introduced in an attempt to control water levels.
The manual sugarcane harvesting process that China has chosen is associated with increased labor costs, which have reduced production over the past decade. China is already trying to mechanize, a step that could bring it closer to the place of manufacturers around the world.
3.Europ
The European Union is the largest producer of beet sugar in the world. However, beets only account for about 20% of the world's total sugar production. Most of this growth is in the northern half of Europe, where the climate is more favorable. Notable regions include France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Poland. In addition to beet production, the EU also refines imported raw sugar to a much lesser extent.
2.India
India, the largest consumer of sugar in the world and the largest producer of sugar in 2018/19, now produces about 30 million tons of sugar annually. In 2019/2020, India produced 27.4 million tons, most of which was low-quality white sugar. The country's mass consumption and production creates a very large sugar industry, with approximately 50 million farmers and millions of other workers working in the field of sugarcane farming. Because of this, the country has been a surplus producer for almost a decade.
1.Brazil
Number 1 goes to a country that has historically been the largest producer of sugarcane in the world. The South American giant produced 29.61 MMT in 2019/2020, and this was at a time when the production mix did not even maximize sugar, as the yield of the sweetener was less attractive than ethanol.
Central South (CS) of Brazil, the region responsible for 90% of the country's production, experiences high rainfall. This region is distinguished by having an ideal climate for sugarcane development, a suitable environment for growing sugarcane and a strong transportation network. A combination of favorable factors allows the volume of sugarcane processed to be close to 600 MMT.
As the world turns, so does the market. Changes usually occur on a seasonal basis, if not more often. Adverse weather conditions, new or revised government policies, and global pandemics can have devastating effects on a country's sugar production and trade flows.