Sugar prices heading upward
Sugar rose, gaining 2.7% for the week, after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke urged the U.S. to reduce tariffs on imports of cane-based ethanol from Brazil, the world’s largest producer.
Brazil used more than half of its sugar-cane crop to make ethanol instead of sweetener as crude oil prices climbed to a record high. The U.S. imposes a tax of 54 cents a gallon on ethanol from Brazil. The tariff, set to expire at the end of this year, may be renewed by Congress. Ethanol, a gasoline additive, is made from corn in the U.S.
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