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Insight Focus
Cash sugar sales are holding steady amid weak demand. The US beet harvest advanced rapidly but progress varied by state due to muddy fields and weather delays. Freezing temperatures aided storage but threatened late crops as corn sweetener talks continued amid expectations of ample 2026 supplies.
Cash Sugar Sales Hold Steady
Cash sugar sales for 2026 continued at a slow but steady pace in the week ended October 24. Beet and cane sugar prices were mostly unchanged. Forward prices for Pacific beet sugar widened to a range of 46c/lb to 48c/lb. Deliveries were typical for the season.
While forward Midwest beet sugar prices have firmed in recent months, additional upside was limited by uncertain demand, expectations for ample supplies, and tumbling global raw sugar futures.
Cold Weather Aids Beet Storage but Threatens Late Crops
According to industry sources, the sugar beet harvest in some states was making rapid progress. Official harvest updates from the USDA remained unavailable due to the federal government shutdown.
Harvest across much of the Red River Valley was thought to be either wrapping up or entering its final stages. Recent weather forecasts for the major sugar beet growing areas indicated below-freezing temperatures were expected. This was good news for processors who have begun piling beets outdoors for long-term storage, but a frost could damage crops still in the ground and reduce yields.
Private estimates as of October 17 indicated sugar beet harvest completion at 30% in Colorado, 30% in Nebraska, 25% in Idaho, and just over 40% in Montana and Wyoming. Muddy conditions in southern Minnesota, where harvest was only about 60% complete, delayed progress in that specific area compared with the rest of the state.
Warm Weather Delays Michigan Piling, Yields Fall
Harvest in Michigan was approaching 30% completion. Warmer-than-average temperatures have delayed outdoor beet piling in the state. The overall outlook for the Michigan crop remained uncertain. Weeks of dry weather appeared to have affected crop development, and yields were expected to fall sharply below the trend line. Sugar content levels were good, but they may not be high enough to offset the lower yields.
During the same period a year earlier, sugar beet harvest completion stood at 90% in Minnesota (74% as the 2020–24 average), 88% in North Dakota (71%), 31% in Michigan (36%), 39% in Idaho (51%), 70% in Colorado (68%), 75% in Wyoming (66%), 37% in Montana (40%), and 25% in Oregon (48%).
A local Louisiana television broadcast on October 20 profiled a sugar cane grower in Iberia Parish who said his harvest was about 25% complete, with sugar yields “on par” with the prior year’s production, which he described as above average. During the same week in 2024, the USDA state office reported that 29% of the Louisiana sugar cane crop had been harvested, compared with 21% as the five-year average for the date.
Negotiations for 2026 annual corn sweetener contracts were ongoing. Buyers and sellers remained in a pricing tug-of-war as expectations for a record-large domestic crop raised ideas that abundant production might pressure prices lower.
