Sugar, Brazil (Center-South)

Brazil is the world's top sugar producer (≈42.5 Mt in 2026/27, nearly a quarter of global output) and top exporter, alone accounting for about half of the sugar traded worldwide (≈34 Mt of ≈63 Mt exported in 2025/26). Output is concentrated in the Center-South region around São Paulo. The same cane feeds both sugar and ethanol: when gasoline prices rise, mills swing toward ethanol (≈52% ethanol / 48% sugar mix in 2026/27, after the anhydrous ethanol blend rose from 27% to 30% in August 2025), and world sugar supply tightens. A local energy trade-off thus sets the world sugar price.