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Here’s Why Hedge Funds Are Sweet on Sugar

Investors have piled into the sugar market, driving futures prices to new highs in the face of an expected statistical deficit.

Sugar Cane Harvesting At US Sugar Corp.

Some investors are going all in on sugar.

Commodities might be in a deep rout, but raw-sugar futures prices have rallied to the market’s largest gain in four years, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The sugar market has until recently been mired in a years-long price decline, but it’s rebounding thanks to global consumption outpacing production. Now, the International Sugar Organization expects the year to result in a “statistical deficit.” Plus, it helps that the currencies in India and Brazil, some of sugar’s biggest producers, have seen modest improvement. Previously, in early 2015, a declining Brazilian real drove sugar prices down by prompting producers to up activity, according to The Journal.

But despite the optimism, some investors caution that the pile-on went too far, and that futures pricing is now removed for true transactional pricing.