Sugar market rebounds as prices hit 18-month highs

Sugar prices available to Queensland cane growers for the 2026 and 2027 cane crops have hit their highest levels in 18 months, marking an unprecedented turnaround in the sugar market over the past two months. At the beginning of August, the market for both seasons’ crops was languishing below $500/t. Since then, 2026 season prices have risen by more than $150/t and 2027 prices by $100/t, with March 2026 values hitting $650/t and the 2027 crop touching $600/t.

This is a welcome respite for growers facing a season beset by poorer-than-expected cane yields and, until recently, sugar prices below many growers’ costs of production. Queensland cane growers are unique among their international peers as the only sugarcane growers in the world who can independently forward price their cane based on sugar values for seasons to come.

With the onset of El Niño conditions, projections for Brazilian and Indian sugar production have both been reduced. Many analysts’ forecasts of sugar trade surpluses have shrunk or been wiped out, leading to a much tighter world market balance than was expected just a couple of months ago.

The new ‘Queensland Sugar Price Index’

To support growers’ marketing and pricing decisions, CANEGROWERS has launched a new ‘Queensland Sugar Price Index’. This shows the average price available in the market over different pricing periods. It provides a clear benchmark growers can use to compare their own pricing results and marketers’ pool results, and to put pricing opportunities available over the period into context.

CANEGROWERS has developed the index to support the decisions growers need to make – including choice of marketer, choice of product or pool, and individual pricing decisions. These are similar to the benchmarks pool managers would use to assess their own performance.

The Queensland Sugar Price Index can be found here.

The index highlights the strength of current prices in a historical context. The latest prices available for the 2026 crop are above the Sugar Price Index for eight of the past nine seasons and are not far below the index value for the 2024 crop.

As prices can shift just as rapidly in either direction, growers are urged to stay in contact with their marketer, know their cost of production and their business’s exposure to pricing risks, and remain focused on their pricing strategy.

The latest CANEGROWERS Around the Paddock podcast discussed the volatile and unpredictable nature of sugar markets, and why knowing your cost of production, having a clear plan and sticking to it can matter more than trying to outguess the market. Listen to the CANEGROWERS podcast here