- Iran has increased its sugar import program this year due to a reduction in production.
- 2018/19 raws imports already total 926k tonnes, way above last season’s 230k tonnes.
- With production unlikely to rebound straight away it seems likely a significant import program will be needed next season.
Increasing Imports
- At last! Some good news for raw sugar demand.
- Raws imports into Iran have increased at least four-fold this season.
- We have seen imports so far this season increase from 230k tonnes last season to 926k tonnes.
Iranian Raws Imports
- Historically raws imports have exclusively come from Brazil, however this season, with sanctions in place, the Iranian government agreed a sugar for oil trade
with India. - This has allowed for 500k tonnes of Indian raw sugar to enter the country and could continue into 19/20.
Needed due to Production Decrease
- The drastic increase in raws imports this season have been needed due to a fall in production y-o-y after years of production increases and reduced imports.
- Iran’s yearly consumption is close to 2.5m tonnes and imports are needed to bridge the gap between production levels and consumption.
- This season we have seen a large fall in production due to poor rains in the province of Khuzestan (where most the beet and cane is grown).
- We saw production drop by over 40%, from close to 2m tonnes to 1.12m tonnes.
Iranian Sugar Production
- We have already seen the effect of this reduced crop this season with the increased imports.
- However, production is unlikely to be able to rebound immediately to last years highs, a significant import program is therefore likely in the 19/20 season also.
- This is because growth of ratoon cane is likely to have been stunted by the dryness.
