Sugar rises in anticipation of output cut

India's production is already expected to drop 4 million tonne to 22 million tonne next season, Leonardo Bichara Rocha, an economist at the International Sugar Organization, said in an interview yesterday in Singapore.

While recent storms eased stress to sugar cane in the north, southern India "has turned drier,"' forecaster Meteorlogix LLC said.

"There is some concern about the distribution of the monsoon in India," Jonathan Kingsman, head of Kingsman SA in Lausanne, Switzerland, said today in an e-mail.

"Some areas have received little rain. As such, there is a consensus that the Indian crop could be lower than the anticipated 22 to 23 million metric tonne."

Sugar futures for October delivery rose 0.11 cent, or 0.8 per cent, to 13.86 cents a pound on ICE Futures U.S., the former New York Board of Trade. The price earlier reached 14.05 cents, the highest since July 3.

Most-active futures gained 9.2 per cent last week as crude oil reached a record $145.85 a barrel on July 3 and sugar production fell in Brazil.

A sugar-cane industry association in Brazil said output from the Center South region, which produces about 80 per cent of the country's cane, fell 14 per cent through mid-June from a year earlier as more was used for ethanol amid record oil prices. Brazil is the largest sugar producer.