U.S. raises sugar import projection by nearly 500,000 short tonnes

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Tuesday increased its estimate for the country’s sugar imports in the 2022/23 season by nearly half million short tonnes, but fell short of saying from where all this sugar will come from.

In its monthly supply and demand report WASDE10, the USDA projected the U.S. will import 3.5 million short tonnes (ST) of sugar in the new season that starts in October, up from 3 million ST estimated in June.

The department made the changes looking to bring the market to a less difficult supply situation. In the previous month report, the so-called stocks-to-use ratio – a metric used by the agency to evaluate supplies – was at only 7.6% compared with the level of 13.5% considered adequate.

The USDA expects most of the additional imports to come from Mexico, but said that its neighbor is unlikely to be able to ship all the needed volume. Additional volumes could be opened in the low-duty import quota known as TRQ.

The higher imports are expected even as the department increased local sugar production estimate by 125,000 ST after it adjusted beet sugar planted area considering the new numbers released in the June 30 acreage report.

U.S. sugar production in 2022/23 is now seen at 8.94 million ST versus 9.11 million ST in 2021/22.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Marcelo Teixeira Editing by Marguerita Choy)