July NY world sugar #11 (SBN23) on Thursday closed up +0.98 (+4.00%), and Aug London white sugar #5 (SWQ23) closed up +19.60 (+2.93%).
Sugar prices Thursday rallied sharply, with NY sugar posting a 1-week high. Fund buying pushed sugar prices sharply higher Thursday after the U.S. Climate Prediction Center said that sea surface temperatures across the equatorial Pacific Ocean had risen 0.5 degrees Celsius above normal, and wind patterns have changed to the point where El Nino criteria have been met. An El Nino weather pattern typically brings heavy rains to Brazil and drought to India, negatively impacting sugar crop production. The last time El Nino brought dryness to sugar crops in Asia was in 2015 and 2016, which caused prices to soar.
