Sugar Futures Up, as Drought in India Threatens Supplies

NEW YORK — The price for a raw-sugar futures, to be delivered in October, rose to a three-year high of 19.4 cents per-pound on Tuesday. The increase comes as droughts throughout India’s sugar producing regions threaten the year’s harvest.

“They just haven’t been getting the right amount of rains in India,” Anthony Compagnino, a partner at East Coast Options Services Inc. told Bloomberg.

Trading on the London International Financial Futures Exchange (LIFFE) saw the price of refined, or white sugar, rally to a 20-year high of $513 a ton, before settling at $512.20 a ton.

The speculation came on news of shortfalls in Maharashtra, India’s largest sugar producing state. Forecasted deliveries are expected to be down, as a prolonged drought and a weak monsoon season threaten this year’s yield.

In total, sugar production is excepted to be down nearly 44 percent in India for the year ending in September 30, 2009.