Sugar is a major commodity being traded on the market internationally.  On average worldwide, over 101 million tons of sugar is produced and traded annually.  Nearly forty percent of the world’s sugar is produced by the countries of the European Union, India and Brazil, with Brazil leading the way in sugar production.

Sugar is cultivated in two forms -- cane and beat.  Sugar is a perennial crop that bests grows in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world.  Both refined and raw sugar are commodities that are traded on the world market.  When it comes to the trade of sugar on the commodities market, fifty percent of the sugar bought and sold is raw and fifty percent is raw.

On average, 16 million tons of sugar is produced annually by the European Union.  Just under 10 million tons of sugar is produced in India on an annual basis.  Just over 10 million tons of sugar is cultivated in Brazil each year.  In recent years, market analysts actually believe that Brazil has been “over producing” sugar in recent years which has resulted in an oversupply of the commodity and a lowering of the price of sugar on the international market.

Brazil is the major exporter of sugar in the world today.  Exports from Brazil have increased by four hundred over the course of the past thirty years.  Indeed, exports from Brazil outpace every other sugar exporting nation on the planet most significantly.  The other major exporters of sugar are Cuba, India, Thailand and Australia.

On balance, the cost of sugar on the world market has remained fairly stable over the course of the past couple of decades.  There have been minimal fluctuations in the price of sugar during this twenty year period.  Many industry experts believe that the price of sugar on the internationally marker should remain flat into the foreseeable future.

Many developing countries around the world -- India, Thailand and Cuba as examples -- rely heavily on sugar exports to keep their economies moving.  These countries do face some trade barriers in place in more developed nations which has limited the revenue that can be generated from sugar exports. 

Some of these trade barriers are being stricken, which should benefit the developing nations in both the short and the long term.  For example, the European Union is gradually decreasing the tariff that has been in place on sugar imports to zero, the decrease to be phased in from 2006 through 2009.  This change will be of great benefit to the developing nations that export sugar and depend on sugar for their economic wellbeing.

There are six nations that are responsible for the importation of most of the sugar in grown in the world today.  These mammoth importers of sugar are:  Canada, China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the United States.  The European Union as a whole is also a major importer of sugar, particularly refined sugar.