Indian imports to sustain 30-year-high sugar prices

Global sugar prices are likely to stay high in the coming year, analysts say, as India, the world's largest consumer of the commodity, reels from poor monsoon rains that will force it to rely on imports.
India could import more than six million tonnes this fiscal year, its highest in a decade.
That will keep world prices high for a commodity whose supply is expected to fall short of demand by some nine million tonnes globally in 2008-09, according to the International Sugar Organisation (ISO).
In India, sugar has major social and political implications, is a key part of the diet and an essential ingredient for delicacies at religious festivals.
"With the monsoon weak, India's sugar imports could rise to six to seven million tonnes in 2009-10 to meet local consumption demands of 26 million tonnes," said Mehul Agrawal, sugar analyst at equity research firm Sharekhan.
"Each time India enters the global market, prices could spike."
On Monday, sugar markets around the world jumped to highs not seen since the 1980s.
The benchmark raw sugar futures at the New York-based Intercontinental exchange rose five percent at 22 cents a pound for October delivery -- the highest since March 30, 1981.
White sugar prices also increased to a 26-year high in London at 557.4 dollar a tonne.