Sugar not so sweet as global output climbs, analysts say

NEW YORK - Sugar prices, heading for the biggest quarterly drop since 1985, will extend a slump as Brazil and India, the world's largest producers, harvest bumper crops next season, analysts and traders said.

Raw sugar will fall 16 percent to 15 cents a pound by early July as the bulk of Brazilian supplies reach the market, said Marcelo Dorea, a partner at Round Earth Capital in New York. The price will tumble to 13 cents at the end of the year, posting a 52 percent annual loss, said Mark Hansen at CPM Group. Last year, the sweetener more than doubled.

"Sugar has transitioned from a bullish scenario to a bearish scenario," said Dorea, who began trading agricultural commodities in 1981. "Investors should sell into rallies. The market may correct itself a little bit more, but there isn't anything that would bring sugar up to the levels of the mid-20s."