Sustainability in sugar has been side lined by the health debate, but the confectionery industry is a heavy user and must now decide whether it will support cane growers in the developing world, says Bonsucro.
The liberalisation of the EU sugar market next year must be accompanied by market measures to maintain sugar beet production and allow the sector to retain its strategic importance, according to a recent EU report.
Global sugar prices have rocketed 30% since mid-April as the balance between supply and demand tightens. In Europe prices have remained steady but could soon increase, according to Rabobank’s latest sugar quarterly.
The recent finalization of the Trans Pacific Partnership is good news for confectioners and sugar-using manufacturers across the US, according to Rick Pasco, president of Sweetener Users Association (SUA).
Divine Chocolate says multinationals are escaping fuller Fairtrade commitments under the certification body’s new rules. But Fairtrade says its sourcing program is the only way to reach cocoa farmers at scale.
Sugar prices in the US have fallen more than 40% since last summer and are now at “dangerously low levels for producers who are facing ever-increasing input costs”, according to Jack Roney, an economist with the American Sugar Alliance (ASA).
Pectin isolated from sugar beet could boost industry use of natural blue colours by improving the formation and stability of blue hues from anthocyanins, say researchers.
EU sugar supplies are at their most critical levels since the 2005 sugar reform and are causing ‘extreme volatility, instability and disruption’ to the European food and drink industry.
Sugar stocks should rise significantly from their current low levels, with analysts forecasting a global sugar surplus of around 9.5m tonnes in the 2011/12 (October-September) crop year, on the back of increased production in Europe and Asia.
A federal appeals court in San Francisco has overturned a previous ruling to destroy genetically modified (GM) sugar beets, ruling in favor of Monsanto and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
A federal judge ruled on Friday that genetically modified (GM) sugar beets should not be planted or processed until the US Department of Agriculture has carried out a thorough assessment of their impact on other crops.
A judge has denied an immediate ban on the planting of Monsanto’s genetically modified (GM) sugar beets as it “would have a large detrimental effect on the United States’ domestic sugar supply and price.”
The Sweetener Users Association (SUA) has warned that the sugar market could be disrupted by production shortages, refining capacity issues and the upcoming hurricane season.
