SAO PAULO – Sugar extended its surge in New York and London on mounting worries about tight supplies.

White sugar futures rose 2.7 per cent in London to settle at its highest price since November 2011. That elevated the white premium, the price difference between refined and raw sugar, which touched record highs in Tuesday trading before trimming gains.

Raw sugar settled 2.6 per cent higher in New York, its highest since October 2016.

A lack of deliverable sugar ahead of Friday’s expiry of the white sugar contract for May is driving prices higher.

The number of contracts to be closed, known as open interest, points to a “massive” delivery above 880,000 tonnes, said Mr John Stansfield, a senior sugar analyst at DNEXT Intelligence, adding that those with short positions “don’t have the physical sugar to tender”.

Prices of the sweetener have jumped on prospects for limited exports out of key shipper India and lackluster supplies from Thailand, Europe, China and Mexico. 

India is one of the largest exporters of white sugar, but shipments are controlled by quotas that are almost exhausted, with no real expectation of an increase, said Mr Soren Jensen, a long-time market observer.

India’s refining industry might soon have to shift from domestically produced raw sugar to imports – most likely from Brazil.

The South American country just started its harvest, but transportation bottlenecks are an issue, with sugar competing against a record soya bean crop for space on railways and at ports.

“There is growing concern that Brazil might not export as much as expected in the beginning of the season, however the market really needs the Brazilian sugar,” Mr Jensen said. BLOOMBERG