Glut Drags On Sugar Price, Biofuel Key To Rebound
A fund-driven surge in sugar prices at the start of 2008 has been wiped out as a huge glut of the sweetener reasserted its grip on the market, but growing demand for cane-based ethanol could fuel future price gains. Raw sugar futures powered out of the starting blocks of 2008 on heavy buying by index funds and soared 39 percent to peak at 15.07 cents a lb on March 3. Prices then slid under pressure from the surplus, and dipped below 10 cents on Friday. Raw sugar stood at 10.82 cents on the last trading day of 2007.