# Sugar: Stocks

How governments in India and China manage sugar stocks

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sugar/stocks/

What this tab covers How much is left and how much is held. For minerals and energy: reserves, current output, years of supply and recycling for the top five countries. For farm commodities: production, ending stocks and stocks-to-use for the top five producers (USDA, October 2026). It also covers inventories and stockpiles.

#### Top five producers: production and stocks (USDA, 2026/27)

| Country | Production | Share | Ending stocks | Stocks-to-use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Brazil** | 42,500 | 23% | 221 | 0.7% |
| **India** | 33,600 | 18.2% | 6,506 | 180.7% |
| **European Union** | 14,350 | 7.8% | 656 | 76.5% |
| **China** | 12,700 | 6.9% | 4,023 | 2514% |
| **Thailand** | 9,500 | 5.1% | 13,450 | 224.2% |
| **World** | 184,900 | 100% | 44,410 | – |

 thousand t. Stocks-to-use = ending stocks ÷ (domestic use + exports) for countries, ÷ world use for the world. Source: USDA FAS PSD database, October 2026 release; 2026/27 figures are projections.

#### Stockholding and policy

No recycling applies. Stocks are largely policy-driven. India opened 2025-26 with about 5.0 Mt of sugar and ISMA projects closing stocks of 7.45 Mt, about three months of consumption; the government controls them through monthly mill release quotas and export quotas. The US runs a tariff-rate quota system with a 17.8% stocks-to-use ratio in 2025/26 (WASDE). China keeps state reserves (volumes not published in sources found).

Raw and white sugar store well for years in dry warehouses, so inventories are an important buffer. Governments hold many of them: India manages stocks, export quotas and mill obligations, and China keeps state reserves. Analysts watch the world stocks-to-use ratio as the main gauge of tightness. Geman describes how surpluses in 2002-03 built large stocks and pushed raw sugar to about 6 cents per pound in early 2004, barely the cost of Brazil's most efficient mills.

## Other sections

- [Summary](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sugar/index.md)
- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sugar/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sugar/correlation/index.md)
- [Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sugar/extraction/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sugar/production/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sugar/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sugar/trading/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sugar/movement/index.md)
- [Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sugar/criticality/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sugar/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sugar/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/sugar/links/index.md)