Deadline for cane farmers looms as prices on the rise

QUEENSLAND cane growers are reminded they only have until October 31 to choose which sugar marketer they would like to use for next season.

Since the introduction of Marketing Choice in 2017, growers have been able to choose whether they wish to use their miller or their industry-owned marketer, Queensland Sugar Limited, for pricing, payment and marketing services.

QSL’S marketing general manager Mark Hampson said strong prices on the ICE 11 raw sugar market had already resulted in high levels of growers completing the marketing nomination process in order to access grower-managed pricing for next season, with 2023 season prices now also drawing increasing interest.

“Growers appreciate that it’s been four years since we’ve seen raw sugar prices at these sorts of levels, and so they’ve been very busy making the most of it by undertaking forward pricing,” Mr Hampson said.

“We’ve seen QSL growers lock in record levels of pricing this year and next season is already heavily priced, with $560/tonne gross actual the highest 2022 season target price order filled to date, and $575/tonne gross actual filled against the July 2022 contract in our Individual Futures Contract option.”

Mr Hampson said 2023 season pricing had hit the $500/t gross actual mark late last month against the July 2023 contract, while the highest grower pricing achieved for the 2024 season was currently $465/tonne gross actual against the July 2024 contract.

“After three consecutive seasons where the average market price was less than $390/tonne and then climbed to just $429/tonne last season, it’s fantastic to not only see strong prices, but have them extend across multiple seasons, enabling growers to potentially lock in profitable prices for the crops to come,” he said.