Sugar reaches $887 per metric ton amid global supply fears

The international sugar price rose to $845 per metric ton in September and reached $887 in the first week of October. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported an 11.9% increase in global sugar prices in August, driven by lower production in Brazil, expected yield drops in the European Union, import adjustments in India, and El Niño weather concerns across Asia.

In Peru, domestic prices surged alongside the global benchmark. The Consumer Price Index for sugar and related products rose 5.50% in Metropolitan Lima during September, with brown sugar rising 16.19%. Nationally, the category jumped 15.22%, as brown sugar climbed 15.9% and white sugar rose 12.3%. In retail markets, brown sugar averaged 3.94 Peruvian soles per kilogram and white sugar reached 4.31 soles, marking an increase of approximately 0.40 soles per kilogram in one month. In wholesale markets, a 50-kilogram sack of brown sugar rose 28.6%, from 129.88 soles to 167 soles.

Peru faces domestic production headwinds despite expanding sugarcane output by 16.99% between January and July, and harvesting 5.1 million tons in the first half of the year, up 23% from the same period in 2025. However, sugarcane output contracted 6.88% in July according to the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEI), led by declines in Lambayeque (-15.98%), La Libertad (-13.08%), and Ancash (-7.81%). According to the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation (Midagri), La Libertad accounts for 46.3% of national sugar output and Lambayeque represents 20.4%. Industrial sugar manufacturing fell 4.26% in June and 8.04% in July.

Peru consumes nearly 1.5 million metric tons of sugar annually, relying on imports to bridge the gap with its domestic production of 1.1 million tons. Last year, the country imported 272,000 tons of sugar. Higher costs for imported fuel and fertilizers, alongside potential yield losses from El Niño through February, threaten to drive domestic prices closer to levels seen in 2023, when production fell 4% and retail prices reached 4.60 soles per kilo.