One of the most important challenges facing the world’s agriculture and agro-industries is ensuring adequate supplies of healthy and nutritious foods to a growing world population, while making sure the entire process of production is sustainable, thus contributing to combating climate change via adaptation and mitigation. In a world of scarce resources, optimising the use of land and inputs to produce more with less is of paramount importance to guaranteeing food security and availability, while preserving the environment. Hence the importance of increasing productivity in all agri-food sectors, including the sugar sector.
This study provides agricultural statistics from 48 cane and 33 beet growing countries. The statistics covered a time span of 20 years, from 2001/02 to 2020/21, and represent 98.8% of global sugar production. This study updates the ISO’s previous investigation, which covered data up to 2015/16.
Significant developments have occurred, for both cane and beet producers, during the intervening period. The current study has found that cane harvested areas for sugar production fell, in contrast to previous periods of increasing acreage. Furthermore, cane sugar yields, within mills, also fell. Nevertheless, sugar output rose marginally, driven by higher agricultural yields. In the beet sector, beet acreage rose in the most recent five-year period, which represents a trend reversal from previous periods. Agricultural yields also rose. Meanwhile, industrial beet sugar yields fell slightly, suggesting that the rapid improvement observed in the sugar beet sector in recent history has plateaued.
Introduction
1. Overview of Selected Country Data / Methodology
Argentina
Brazil
EU + UK
India
Pakistan
2. Sugar Cane Sector
Sugar Cane Areas and Agricultural Yields
Cane Industrial Yields
3. Sugar Beet Sector
Beet Areas and Agricultural Yields
Beet Industrial Yields
4. Global Picture: Cane versus Beet
Conclusion
Statistical Appendix