The role of Latin America in the world sugar trade
This paper reviews the major changes and trends in the raw and white sugar trade flows involving Latin American exporters and their partners. The paper assesses the recent absolute and relative growth in the volume of sugar exports from Brazil (the region’s and the world’s dominant exporter) and other major regional exporters such as Guatemala, Cuba, Colombia, Mexico and Argentina. Latin America has emerged as the world’s largest net sugar exporting region. Significant volumes of raw sugar of Latin American origin are now used by a large number of new destination refineries which have been set up in the Middle East and Asia. Indeed, the share of Latin America in global raw sugar exports has increased from 62.8% on average between 2002 and 2004 to 67.3% on average between 2006 and 2008. This paper also evaluates the impact of preferential trade agreements, including the CAFTA and the EPA, for Central American and Caribbean sugar exporters, as well as the implications of NAFTA for Mexico’s sugar. Finally, the paper discusses the potential gains and benefits that diversification into ethanol and cogeneration have provided to the major Latin American sugarcane industries.