The spot price in China's sugar market has undergone a drastic increase starting December and a drop will not come soon, said experts Tuesday.

The sugar spot price has topped 3,900 yuan (US$481) a ton, 1,300 yuan (US$160) a ton more than during the same period last year, in the southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, which produces half of the country's total.

This April, the sugar futures price in the New York market hit an all-time high of 13 US cents per pound over the past 10 years. On December 8, the London sugar market recorded its white sugar futures price at US$332.4 per ton, a year-on-year rise of US$7.4, according to sources from the Sugar Association of Guangxi.

The stable increase in the sugar price is an immediate result of the European Union's subsidy cuts in its sugar futures. Starting from next May, its sugar exports will plunge from the current six to seven million tons to 1.3 million tons.

Its production will be just adequate for the domestic needs, which will provide more business opportunities for Brazil's sugar industry and ultimately increase the price on the international market.

The surging demand for sugar is also contributing to the price hike. Currently, there is a shortfall of one million tons of sugar, according to the latest report by International Sugar Organization.

(Xinhua News Agency December 14, 2005)