Daily Market Price Updates and Commentary 23rd May 2025

Raw Sugar Prices

Opening lower and then punching down to 17.23 set Jul’25 off on a negative footing, thought once this initial push was over trading settled down with values settling down to a narrow band either side of 17.30. Volume dropped and so another tedious session developed, showing no movement ahead of the US morning as funds sat content on their existing short positions showing no desire to add to these and test downside support. Into the afternoon there was a small nudge down to 17.21 but it felt half hearted and disappointingly it was not long before some light short covering returned the market back to 17.30. There was no further movement through the rest of the day, reflected in a settlement price at 17.29 when the close finally arrived. Spreads also saw only light interest with Jul/Oct’25 ending the week at 0.20 points. With No.11 closed on Monday traders can enjoy a 3-day weekend, though whether it is long enough to re-enthuse themselves for when we resume on Tuesday is another matter with the current level of selling not appearing sizable enough to yet trouble this month 16.97 low. 

White Sugar Prices

Having fallen back to the lower end of the current range yesterday we started the day with sellers driving the narrative and quickly pushing through a reasonable amount of scale buying to end Aug’25 down through $484.00. This placed the market at its lowest levels since early February however there was not the continuation selling from specs that might have been anticipated and instead the market looked to level out and hold the lower/mid $480’s. With a long weekend approaching there seemed to be even less interest from traders to take positions than has been the case over recent days, and this low volume meant that another long and boring day developed. Marginal new lows were registered at $482.70 however the dull pattern continued relentlessly right the way to the close. White premiums were again weaker with Aug/Jul’25 ending the week at $102.40 while Aug/Oct’25 moved back towards its recent lows and closed at $3.40. Aug’25 settled at $483.60, bringing a welcome conclusion to the day, and leaving questions as to potential continued downside exploration when we resume on Tuesday.