Sugar and Other Sweeteners

Abstract

Sugar and starch are among the most abundant plant products available, and large industries exist worldwide to extract and process them from agricultural sources. The world production of sugar (sucrose from sugarcane and sugar beet) in 2015/2016 was approximately 176 million metric tons, raw value, with 19.6% being beet sugar and 80.4% cane sugar (Supplement to A first look at the 2016-17 sugar balance, 38, 2016). The total production of world sugar has risen dramatically since 1971/1972, when it was 71.7 million tons (FO Licht GmbH, World beet and cane sugar production, 14–15, 2004). The proportion of beet sugar to cane sugar has fallen steadily since about 1971, when it constituted 42.8% of total sugar production (FO Licht GmbH, World production, consumption and stocks of centrifugal sugar 1952–2000, 12–13, 2001). In 2015/2016, 37% (66.0 million metric tons) of world sugar production was exported, with Brazil being the largest exporter (Supplement to A first look at the 2016-17 sugar balance, 38, 2016). China was the largest importer in 2015/2016 followed closely by Indonesia, the European Union, then the USA (Supplement to A first look at the 2016-17 sugar balance, 38, 2016). Although, in some developed countries, there is currently an unhealthy perception of sugar with associated campaigns to reduce sugar calories in foods, world sugar consumption continues to climb. World sugar consumption was 182 million metric tons, raw value in 2015/2016, due mostly to Asia, Africa, and North and Central America (Supplement to A first look at the 2016-17 sugar balance, 38, 2016). Per capita consumption of sugar in 2015/2016 was greatest in South America (51.3 kg, raw value) and lowest in Africa (17.8 kg, raw value).