World Sugar Market – Basic Development Trends and Tendencies

This article is devoted to the issues of the world‘s sugar production and cultivation of sugar crops (sugar beet and sugar cane). It also analyzes the development of the global sugar trade. The main aim of this paper is to define the basic developmental trends and tendencies that affect the current situation on the market for sugar and sugar crops and then outline a process of gradual profiling of the world markets for these commodities. The article identifies the most important players operating in the global market, both in terms of production and in terms of trade. It also identifies not only the most important subjects of the global market from the viewpoint of the realized volume of production and trade, but also in terms of available comparative advantages and growth dynamics of the realized volume of production and trade. Finally, the paper highlights the significant differences existing in unit prices of the realized export and import flows in individual countries and regions. The results of this study show clearly that the world sugar market is extremely concentrated. A narrow group of entities localized mainly in Latin America, Southeast Asia, Europe and North America controls most of the world production of sugar beet and sugar cane. Furthermore, the results of the analysis show that the production and export of sugar are logically closely linked with the regions cultivating sugar crops, which again suggests that a limited number of entities controls most of the global sugar market. Currently, this market is dominated mainly by Latin American countries and Southeast Asia together with Europe.