Sugar prices may soften over the course of this year, breaking ranks with the rest of the commodity market's "Breakfast Club" of corn, wheat, soybeans and cocoa, which surged to multi-month and all-time highs as dry weather ravaged crops.
Standard Chartered cut quarterly price forecasts for benchmark sugar prices on Wednesday after concerns receded over supply from Brazil, but warned upside risks remained for 2013.
The bank lowered its average sugar price forecasts to 21 U.S. cents a pound for the third quarter, from 23 cents previously and 22 cents a pound for the fourth quarter from 24 cents. It estimates the 2012 annual average at 22 cents from 23 cents earlier.
Raw sugar futures traded on the IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) made their biggest two-day tumble in three months on Wednesday, with dealers focused on a global surplus of the sweetener and on the progress of the harvest in Brazil, Reuters reported.
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