Global price rise turns sugar stocks sweeter; shares of producers up 19-30%

Shares of sugar producers have been in focus lately as hopes of a lower-than-anticipated domestic surplus and rising international prices have tickled the sweet tooth of investors.

For the past few years, the sugar industry has faced the twin headwinds of surplus production and higher sugar inventory, leading to pressure on sugar prices. At the start of the sugar season 2020-21 (October 2020-September 2021), India was expected to produce 31 million tonne (MT) of sugar; the opening stock stood at roughly 11 MT on October 1, 2020.

India consumes on average around 25.5- 26 MT of sugar annually. On January 28, 2021,