The relentless drought currently scourging central Russia has caused a massive surge in the price of wheat, leading world’s third-largest exporter to ban all exports of wheat until the end of the year. Now, raw sugar futures are rising in price, as traders speculate that soaring temperatures and minimal rains will affect the harvest of sugar beets.
On the IntercontinentalExchange, raw No. 11 sugar futures for March 2011 delivery gained 1.112 percent to 17.97 cents per pound.
“Russia’s imports should rise significantly,” Bruno Lima, a risk-management consultant at FCStone Group in Brazil, told Bloomberg News. “This news should support the market.”
On the Liffe, however, white refined sugar futures fell 0.90 percent to $540.30 per metric ton.
Russia’s agricultural woes show no signs of abating, as the national weather center forecasts continued drought and blazing temperatures until at least the end of August. The current heat wave is the hottest that Russian meteorologists have seen in over 150 years of recording data.
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