Australia's sugarcane harvest is weeks away from starting, and growers are locking in "once-in-a-generation" prices for their crops.
This month the world sugar price skyrocketed to more than 24.50 US cents per pound — the highest price since 2012.
In Australian dollar terms, the price has gone beyond $800 a tonne, which peak industry body Canegrowers said was a price not seen in decades.
"Just two years ago, the sugar price languished below $400 per tonne, not even covering the cost of production for many growers — it was a pretty grim time," chairman Owen Menkens said.
"Fast-forward to today, and that figure has doubled, with the prompt price hitting highs of $804 per tonne in mid-April.
"The last time we saw the prompt price at $800 was in 1980, more than 40 years ago — so growers are understandably excited."
Why are sugar prices so high?
Commodity analyst Tom McNeil said global sugar supplies were tight after lower-than-expected output from some major sugar-producing nations in the Northern Hemisphere.
"We've had a poorer-than-expected crop in India, worse-than-expected output from Thailand as well, and the China crop has also being downgraded," he said.
"In Brazil they've had a lot of rain just recently and they are having logistics issues with a massive soybean and corn crop that needs to go out.
"So sugar is competing for space and the outlook for getting sugar shipments out of Brazil is very tight."
Farmers locking in prices
Canegrowers said most growers had already priced their sugar from the 2022 season and would therefore not be able to take advantage of the high prices this month, however the futures market had impressive prices for the coming seasons.
"As of mid-April, growers could forward price their 2023 sugar at $756 per tonne and their 2024 sugar at $651 per tonne," it said.
Chris Condon grows sugar cane near Tully in far-north Queensland and said it was a really exciting time for growers.
"We've certainly locked some [crop] into some attractive pricing for 2025 and we are even looking at 2026," he told ABC Landline.
"The whole thing now is how high is the [price] going to go?
"For us historically, $500 a tonne seems to be a high price, so to get $700 or even $800 is breaking records for us."
He said the majority of his crop was looking amazing and if the winter weather was kind "it'll be a magic season for us, it's very exciting".
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