Insight Focus
The US sugar trade remained slow last week. with unchanged prices. Buyers held out for lower prices amid weak demand and uncertain market fundamentals, while sellers resisted due to their own supply-side concerns. Meanwhile, the 2026 sugar beet crop faces delays and mounting weather risks, including drought, freezes in Idaho and an incoming cold storm in Colorado that could further threaten yields.
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Buyers and sellers continued to engage in purchasing discussions this week, but actual sugar bookings for the 2026–27 season were limited. Prices were unchanged.
Buyers continued to hold out for lower prices, reasoning that weakening demand and the vacillation of fundamentals in broader markets were prolonging uncertainty and hindering companies’ appetites for risk. However, sellers mostly resisted their bids, countering that they, too, were managing their own matters of uncertainty, especially in terms of supply.
2026 Sugar Beet Crop Off to a Slow Start
The 2026 sugar beet crop was off to a slow start. The USDA said 55% of the sugar beet crop in the four major states (Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota) was planted as of May 3, up 40 percentage points from a week earlier but still behind the year-ago pace of 79% and the five-year average for the date of 58%.
Note: Based on the top four producing states, which made up 87% of 2025 sugar beet acreage
Source: USDA
Sugar beets that had already been seeded were under threat from drought conditions and sharp temperature swings in several areas. In late April, a hard freeze struck sugar beet-growing areas in Idaho, with one grower representative saying it was one of the worst freezes in the area in recent years. The USDA said 45% of the sugar beet crop in Idaho had already emerged by May 3, meaning a significant portion of the crop was susceptible to damage.
Growers were in the fields assessing the aftermath and considering replanting options, though many were concerned about the state’s prevailing drought. Several producers had already reduced their acreage planted to sugar beets due to the state’s low-water status. The USDA said 90% of sugar beet production areas in Idaho were experiencing some level of drought as of April 28. Additionally, returns over variable costs for sugar beet growers were already tight due to high input costs and low market values for beet sugar, and the cost of replanting the crop may outweigh the overall benefits.
Severe Cold Threatens Colorado Sugar Beet Fields
Additionally, a massive storm this week was expected to bring several inches of snow and frigid temperatures to the northeast corner of Colorado, where most of the commercial sugar beet crop in the state is planted.
“Beets are terribly sensitive to cool and wet conditions and can get diseases,” said Ron Meyer, an extension agronomist at Colorado State University. “If we stay in the mid-20s for long, it could bother beets because mid-20s is just not a good situation for any crop. If it stays in the mid-20s for multiple hours, I’m not so sure that the heat coming off the soil will be enough to mitigate that cold. So, there is potential for damage, both from the cold, wet weather and the frost.”
The corn sweetener market was routine.
