White Sugar
ICE
The refined half of the sugar market, priced in London and shipped in 50-tonne lots to the world's kitchens.
Top Producers
approximate share of world refined sugar exports (export share, since refined supply is export-driven)
Top Consumers
share of 2025/26 world sugar consumption
Main Uses
world refined sugar use by category
Top Exporters
approximate share of world refined sugar exports, 2025/26
Top Importers
approximate share of world refined sugar imports
World refined sugar trade
roughly 65 million tonnes
as of 2025
Contract size
50 tonnes, FOB delivery
as of 2025
White premium range
roughly $60 to above $100 per tonne across the cycle
as of 2025
2023 high
roughly $760 per tonne
as of 2025
White sugar is the refined, food-grade product, and its London benchmark, the ICE White Sugar No. 5 contract, prices the roughly 65 million tonnes of refined sugar that cross borders each year. The contract is the former LIFFE white sugar future, absorbed into ICE Futures Europe when ICE bought NYSE Euronext's London markets in 2013, and it trades 50-tonne lots in dollars per tonne with physical delivery of bagged or bulk white sugar free-on-board at approved ports. Its relationship to New York's raw sugar No. 11 is the heart of the market: the white premium, the spread between London whites and New York raws adjusted for the 0.92 polarization factor, is the refiner's gross margin, and it tells you instantly whether the world is short of refining capacity or short of cane.
The refining map has shifted decisively toward destination and re-export refineries. Standalone toll refiners in Dubai, Saudi Arabia, and across Asia and Africa import raws from Brazil and sell whites regionally, competing with the direct white-sugar exports of India and Thailand when those countries allow them. When Indian export bans removed the largest source of direct whites from late 2023, the white premium blew out above $100 per tonne and refinery margins boomed; record Brazilian raw supply and returning Indian exports compressed it again through 2025. White sugar is the quieter, more commercial sibling of the No. 11, with less speculative froth and a user base of food manufacturers, refiners, and trade houses hedging actual cargoes.
How It Trades
| Venue | ICE Futures Europe (London) |
| Benchmark contract | White Sugar No. 5 futures (SW) |
| Contract size | 50 tonnes |
| Price terms | US dollars per tonne |
| Settlement | Physical delivery of refined white sugar, free-on-board at approved ports worldwide |
| Typical curve | Generally mirrors the raw sugar curve; the white premium widens independently when refining capacity is tight |
| Liquidity | Smaller than New York raws but deeply commercial; the standard hedge for refined cargo trade |
Where It Trades
approximate share of global white-sugar futures volume, 2025
Supply and Demand
Top producers
- India: largest refined exporter when policy allows
- Thailand: consistent major white and raw exporter
- Brazil: exports mostly raws but significant crystal whites
- European Union: large beet-based producer, mostly internal
- Re-export refiners: Dubai (Al Khaleej), Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Malaysia, Indonesia
The marginal white-sugar tonne comes either from Indian and Thai mills or from destination refineries running Brazilian raws; the white premium arbitrates between the two.
Top consumers
- Food and beverage manufacturers worldwide
- Middle East and African importing nations
- Indonesia and other Southeast Asian importers
- Central Asian and East African re-sale markets
Major uses
- Direct food consumption and household use
- Beverage, confectionery, and baking industries
- Pharmaceutical and fermentation feedstock
What Moves the Price
- The white premium over New York raws, the refiner margin signal
- Indian export policy on refined sugar, the single biggest swing factor
- Toll refinery utilization and energy costs in Dubai and other re-export hubs
- Brazilian raw supply, the feedstock for destination refiners
- Freight and container rates for bagged sugar
- Importing-country tariffs and licensing, especially Indonesia and China
Moments That Made the Market
1888
London begins trading sugar futures, the deepest root of today's No. 5 contract.
1983
The modern white sugar contract launches in London on what became LIFFE.
2013
ICE acquires NYSE Liffe; white sugar becomes an ICE Futures Europe contract.
2016
Whites lead a global deficit rally as Asian refiners scramble for feedstock.
2023
Indian export bans send the white premium above $100 per tonne and whites to multi-year highs near $760 per tonne.
2025
Record Brazilian supply and returning Indian exports compress whites back toward $450 per tonne.
What Changed Since the 2010 Handbook Era
- LIFFE vanished into ICE in 2013; the contract, delivery system, and clearing all migrated.
- Destination toll refineries in the Gulf and Asia became the marginal white-sugar supplier, replacing EU subsidized exports.
- India's rise and policy volatility made the white premium a politics trade as much as a refining trade.
- EU beet-sector consolidation after 2017 quota abolition removed Europe as a structural exporter.