Global sugar prices surge 11.9% in August

New Delhi: Global sugar prices surged 11.9 per cent in August from the previous month due to many factors including lower production in Europe due to adverse weather, impact of El Niño on production in key producing countries in Asia and India's announcement of duty-free raw sugar imports, according to the latest Food Price Index released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

“The FAO Sugar Price Index increased by 11.9 per cent in August,” the UN food agency said.

Explaining the sharp rise, FAO said, “The surge reflected expectations of lower sugar beet yields in the European Union due to adverse weather, concerns over the impact of El Niño on production prospects in key producing countries in Asia, lower sugar production in Brazil, and India's announcement of duty-free raw sugar imports.”

Sugar recorded the sharpest monthly increase among the major food commodity groups tracked by FAO in August.

The broader FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in international prices of a basket of globally traded food commodities, averaged 133.3 points in August 2026, up 1.9 per cent from its revised July level and 2.5 per cent from a year earlier.

FAO said high temperatures, weather-related risks, geopolitical tensions and disruptions to key trade routes had raised concerns over global food supplies.

“August’s increase in global food prices is a warning that the risk premium is returning to food markets: climate shocks, geopolitical tensions and disrupted trade logistics are converging to tighten supply expectations, showing that resilience, open trade and secure input flows are now central to global food-price stability,” FAO Chief Economist Maximo Torero said.

Apart from sugar, the FAO Cereal Price Index rose 2.2 per cent from July, while the Dairy Price Index increased 2.3 per cent, the Vegetable Oil Price Index climbed 1.1 per cent and the Meat Price Index rose 1 per cent.

Global wheat prices increased 2.6 per cent during the month and were 15 per cent higher than a year earlier amid disruptions to Black Sea export logistics, weaker production prospects in Europe following hot and dry weather and a weaker US dollar.

The FAO, in its latest Cereal Supply and Demand Brief released alongside the food price data, also forecast global cereal production at 2,980 million tonnes in 2026, down 2 per cent from 2025, though still expected to be the second-largest harvest on record.