Agriculture and Environment: Commodities

Table of Facts : Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum)

Production
Area Under Cultivation - 19.6 Million ha
Global Production - 1,255.8 Million MT sugarcane; 131.96 Million MT sugar (from beet and cane)
Average Productivity - 64,071 kg sugarcane/ha
Producer Price - $21 per MT
Producer Production Value - $26,217 million

International Trade
Share of World Production - 16%
Exports - 35.0 million MT
Average Price - $229 per MT
Value - $8,016 Million

Principal Producing Countries/Blocs
(of sugarcane by weight)
Brazil, India, China, Thailand, Pakistan, Mexico, Australia

Principal Exporting Countries/Blocs
(of sugar from cane)
Brazil, Australia, Thailand, Cuba, South Africa, Guatemala

Principal Importing Countries/Blocs (of sugar)
Russia, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, United States, United Kingdom, Malaysia


Major Environmental Impacts

• Conversion of primary forest habitat
• Soil erosion and degradation
• Agrochemical use
• Organic matter from processing effluents
  

Potential to Improve

• Poor
• Price too low to improve industry or genetics
• BMPs are known but producers are set in their ways
• Subsidies for sugar beets and cane and market barriers in developed countries are disincentives for producers to change
  

Source: FAO 2002. All data for 2000. Note: Raw sugar is equal to 17% of sugarcane by weight. Sugar is produced from sugarcane and sugar beets. Sugarcane is grasslike plant grown in the tropics. Sugar beet is a tuber grown in temperate climates. FAO statistics do not distinguish sugar from cane or from beet.