BRAZILIAN SUGAR

Brazilian sugar is the most plentiful sugar in the world, due to the fact that Brazil is the largest producer of sugar in the world. Every year Brazil produces up to thirty million tons of sugar, much of which is sold offshore. The majority of Brazilian sugar is VHP raw sugar, which is almost always produced for export and subsequent refining in other countries. A smaller amount of ICUMSA 45 sugar is also produced both for local consumption and international export. Brazilian sugar exports make up 40% of total global sugar exports, which explains how Brazilian sugar comes to be found in baked goods, drinks, and other foodstuffs the world over.

Producing Brazilian Sugar

Brazilian sugar is grown largely in the Sao Paulo region of Brazil. Due to increased demand for sugar cane ethanol, sugar cane related production has grown so rapidly in this region that the Brazilian authorities have been forced to suspend the issuing of new licenses for sugar mills pending investigation into the environmental impact of such large scale sugar cane growing and processing.

Interestingly, the traditional region for sugar production is not in the highly fertile Sao Paulo area, but in the north east of the country, in the Pernambuco and Algolas regions. The first sugar plantations and mills were founded in these states by the Dutch, who used slave labor to plant, harvest, mill and process sugar cane into sugar. Today there are still numerous sugar plantations and mills in this region in spite of the fact that it is considerably less fertile than the Sao Paulo region, not to mention harder to harvest due to hilly terrain.

All sugar produced in Brazil is produced from sugar cane, of which there are many varieties. Brazilian sugar mills have invested great amounts of time and money into developing new strains of sugar cane which contain greater amounts of sucrose, are hardier than previous strains, and which can produce high sucrose crops for several generations before a field must be replanted.

Brazilian sugar mills are renowned for their efficiency, and in general, Brazilian sugar mills place great emphasis on not wasting any resources associated with the sugar milling process.

This attention to sustainability can be seen in every aspect of the sugar production process. For example, in order to extract the sucrose rich raw juice which is processed and refined into various types of sugar, sugar cane must first be harvested and brought to the mill, where it is washed thoroughly and then chopped and shredded before being crushed. The water used to wash the cane is then returned to ponds where it is used to water the sugar cane plantations.

Crushing the cane releases the natural juices in the cane which make up a brown liquid, filled with sucrose, but also with water, dirt, bacteria, and other contaminants that must be removed during processing. The remnants of the sugar cane, the hard fibrous material which is left over is then often collected and burned to power the sugar mill (some mills are powered entirely from the energy obtained from burning bagasse), or sometimes recycled into Styrofoam replacements, and paper.


Purchasing Brazilian Sugar

Though Brazilian sugar is plentiful on the world market, the majority of Brazilian sugar is sold ahead of time on futures markets. This means that new buyers will inevitably have trouble securing large shipments of ICUMSA 150, ICUMSA 45, or VHP raw Brazilian sugar. Most sugar deals come in the form of multi shipment arrangements, where the seller undertakes to send monthly shipments to the buyer until the full amount of the contract is fulfilled. Buyers should beware of multi million ton shipment offers, as these are very rarely real, and much time and money can be lost pursuing these fantasy offers.

Brazilian sugar is typically sold CIF (Cost, Insurance, and Freight), meaning that the purchase price includes the cost of the sugar, insurance on the sugar, and the cost of the freight. It is the seller’s responsibility to organize insurance and freight on the shipment, and it is generally accepted that the sugar is the seller’s liability until it clears the rail of the ship at the destination port.