Commodity
Sugar
The front-month ICE Sugar No. 11 futures price in US cents per pound — the world benchmark for raw sugar. Driven by Brazilian harvests and the real, Indian export policy, and ethanol diversion, it front-runs cost pressure in processed food.
Latest
19.10 US cents/lb
-1.14 US cents/lb
Sugar latest observations
- Observed
- 2026-10-27
- Latest
- 19.20 US cents/lb
- Change from previous
- ▲ +0.10 US cents/lb
Check the observation dates in both the summary and chart; release and refresh times can differ.
At a glance
Sugar: latest value and prior change
As of 2026-10-26, Sugar is 19.10 US cents/lb. It is 1.14 US cents/lb lower than 20.24 US cents/lb on 2026-10-23.
Within the default comparison window of 1,000 observations from 2022-11-03 to 2026-10-26, the latest value is at the tie-adjusted 46th percentile. Available history covers 2000-03-01 to 2026-10-26 with 6,686 observations.
- Observed on
- Default comparison window
- 2022-11-03–2026-10-26
- Observations · observed cadence
- 1,000 · Daily
- Data source
- Yahoo Finance
A high or low percentile does not by itself make the indicator positive, negative, or a buy or sell signal.
2026-08-03 → 2026-10-26 · US cents/lb
- First
- 15.01 US cents/lb
- 2026-08-03
- Latest
- 19.10 US cents/lb
- 2026-10-26
- Window low
- 15.01 US cents/lb
- 2026-08-03
- Window high
- 21.13 US cents/lb
- 2026-10-15
The horizontal axis follows observation order; calendar intervals may differ. High and low refer to observed values within this window, not intraday or all-time extremes. Ties show the first observation date.
Time-series chart
Sugar
2000-03-01–2026-10-26
Long-history series are stored as real provider observations. Index, FX, VIX, and ratio charts use historical backfill where providers expose it; Korean investor flow and margin-credit feeds expand as stable historical endpoints become available.
Recent observations and calculated changes
The ten latest chart observations. Change subtracts the previous observation; intervals vary with holidays, release schedules and missing data. A difference in rates or ratios is not an investment return.
| Observed | Value | Previous date | Difference (current − previous) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-26 | 19.10 US cents/lb | 2026-10-23 | -1.14 US cents/lb |
| 2026-10-23 | 20.24 US cents/lb | 2026-10-22 | 0.11 US cents/lb |
| 2026-10-22 | 20.13 US cents/lb | 2026-10-21 | -0.32 US cents/lb |
| 2026-10-21 | 20.45 US cents/lb | 2026-10-20 | -0.07 US cents/lb |
| 2026-10-20 | 20.52 US cents/lb | 2026-10-19 | -0.05 US cents/lb |
| 2026-10-19 | 20.57 US cents/lb | 2026-10-16 | -0.28 US cents/lb |
| 2026-10-16 | 20.85 US cents/lb | 2026-10-15 | -0.28 US cents/lb |
| 2026-10-15 | 21.13 US cents/lb | 2026-10-14 | 0.29 US cents/lb |
| 2026-10-14 | 20.84 US cents/lb | 2026-10-13 | -0.27 US cents/lb |
| 2026-10-13 | 21.11 US cents/lb | 2026-10-12 | 0.26 US cents/lb |
Source: Yahoo Finance
Interpretation guide
Sugar futures: the commodity where energy and food intersect
Sugar futures trade in US cents per pound on ICE No. 11 — the world benchmark for raw sugar. Supply hinges on how Brazil, the top exporter, splits its cane between sugar and ethanol, giving the contract a rare dual nature: a food commodity wired to the oil market.
What to check
The key variables are Brazil's center-south harvest and its sugar-ethanol mix, plus whether India, the number-two producer, allows exports. India throttles exports based on domestic inflation, so a single policy announcement can flip global supply.
- Rising oil strengthens the ethanol diversion incentive, cutting sugar supply.
- Indian export quota or ban announcements are the classic short-term triggers.
- A stronger Brazilian real dampens export incentives and supports the price floor.
Interpretation rules
Sugar is one leg of soft-commodity inflation alongside coffee and cocoa, but the ethanol channel means the energy cycle matters too. Oil and sugar rising together can signal energy-driven supply reallocation rather than a harvest story.
- Crude and sugar strengthening together — check ethanol-diversion supply cuts first.
- Surging alongside coffee and cocoa points to a shared climate factor such as El Niño.
- The trend in the global stocks-to-use ratio sets the big direction of the price cycle.
How to apply it
Sugar passes into beverage, confectionery, and processed-food costs with a lag. It works best as background for judging Korean refiners' and food companies' cost burden and price-hike cycles.
- In raw-sugar surges, check refiner margins and the odds of retail price increases.
- During processed-food inflation, the sugar price grounds the persistence call.
- If a spike is ethanol-driven, expect the retracement to accelerate once oil falls.