Total U.S. sugar imports from October through May are up just 0.8 percent year on year. This small change is deceptive, however, as there are more radical variations within individual import categories.

Though USDA forecasts imports from Mexico will rise by 5.6 percent in 2017/18, the import volume is down 9.9 percent through May. Sugar prices within Mexico have been unusually strong this season, high enough to encourage sales of U.S. sugar to Mexico.

Imports of tariff-rate quota sugar are up 18.4 percent for raw sugar and down 13.2 percent for refined, while imports under other free-trade agreements are down 24.8 percent.

Cumulative monthly imports of Mexican sugar

Source: USDA, McKeany-Flavell
Posted by: Information Services
Our Information Services team assists our clients with understanding commodity and ingredient market dynamics. Using our extensive database of intelligence, we also produce regular commodity and commercial market publications covering supply and demand fundamentals, news alerts on events that shape the markets, and resource guides to give you a complete picture of the industries we monitor.