Sugar slides as supply surplus bites

Today Andy Roth at the Club for Growth pointed my attention to a recent WSJ article about the USDA agreeing to allow more imported sugar into the United States because of dire predictions of imminent shortages.  The article itself is pretty boring - it's clearly written for a target audience of commodities traders, with the author reporting in a ho-hum manner USDA's decision and the current US and global market situation for sugar.

Sugar prices dropped to their lowest level in six months due to forecasts of large supplies from Brazil, reported Financial Times.   

James Cordier submits:With the current slew of bearishly construed economic data, one would assume that a call selling approach may be the best strategy for many commodities markets. But as we know, these markets can often march to the beat of their own drummers.

By Emerging Money: By Tony Daltorio The price of sugar has jumped to multi-month highs thanks to worries over the size of Brazil’s sugar crop. This marks a reversal of fortune for sugar, which has been among the worst performing commodities this year.

CommodityHQ submits: By Jared Cummans Sugar has been in production since ancient history. When the crop was first discovered, it was not plentiful, or cheap to grow and harvest, so many populations used honey as a sweetener instead. However, during various agricultural revolutions, and major improvements in farming techniques and technology, sugar became a widely used commodity.

Tom Lydon submits: Better-than-expected production numbers from sugar cane producers has both sugar prices and the super sweet sugar exchange traded note (ETN) falling off its sugar high. The trend has taken a turn for the worse in kind.

By CommodityHQ: By Jared Cummans