World Sugar (Oct) has crossed 29 cents/lb on Thursday as the increasing cost of food prices (sugar included) has added to global inflationary pressures.  The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a recent statement that the increasing pressure on food prices will be sustained and that while some food commodity prices have slid over the last month, the food price index has again risen driven by prices in sugar and dairy.

Looking at current Monsoon activity, the IMD weekly update noted that the past week has seen drier conditions across central and western India; regarding sugarcane development, the low precipitation activity across Maharashtra (the largest producing state) may be a cause for concern when projecting physical balances this year.  The seasonal rainfall map to date for the 2011 Monsoon season is shown below.

 

 Refer to the Weather Trends weekly forecasts to see how the Monsoon is progressing.