Sugar has been a widely used ingredient in the human diet for many years. In the past, refined table sugar was so expensive and rare that it was called “white gold”. Today, white sugar is considered a staple in daily consumption. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essaySugar is grown in two main ways. Most of the sugar supply, approximately 80%, comes from sugarcane. Sugar cane requires a tropical climate to grow, such as Brazil. The rest of the sugar comes from sugar beets, grown primarily in the United States and other countries that do not have a tropical climate. Worldwide, more than 100 countries produce sugar from sugar cane or sugar beets, and some countries produce both. Brazil, India, the European Union and China are among the main sugar producers. Many factors determine the supply and demand for sugar. The price of sugar decreases as demand increases, following the law of demand. When the supply of sugar increases, the price also increases, obeying the law of supply. As alternatives to sugar are limited, the supply of sugar is relatively inelastic. This chart shows recent changes in sugar supply and demand. The supply of sugar depends heavily on the weather, like most agricultural products. Currently, favorable conditions have allowed sugar-producing countries to prosper and increase their production, even creating a surplus. The demand for sugar continues to increase, as sugar is now not only used in food production, but is also an important input in the production of biofuels. Today, the international community has become much more environmentally conscious. This has led to the rise of alternative energy resources other than fossil fuels. One of these alternatives is biofuel, in which sugar is an important input, as it replaces corn due to its increased efficiency and becomes the main input in biofuel production. Additionally, global population growth has led to an increase in demand for sugar. These changes led to an increase in the demand and supply of sugar, thereby increasing the quantity produced and consumed, while prices fell as demand increased. The highest sugar price occurred in the first half of 2012, the starting point of the chart. In phase A, there is a clear decline, with a few small exceptions, notably in July 2012, where prices increased significantly for a short period. The price of sugar reached its lowest point during the second half of 2015, when phase A ends. In phase B, sugar prices increase, with the fastest growth occurring in the second half of 2015. In early 2016, prices fell again, but quickly began to rise again. Another significant decline occurred in the second half of 2016. At the beginning of 2017, it can be noticed that sugar prices started to rise again. Since the end of 2011, sugar prices have fallen. This drop in sugar prices mainly comes from global surplus production. This is why sugar prices fell so much between 2012 and 2015. Generally speaking, increases in global sugar production and surpluses generally cause prices to fall. On the contrary, the decrease in global sugar production will likely increase sugar prices, because there will be less sugar available but the.