JANUARY 2021 RV PRICE COMMENTARY

The latest RV Price estimate for the 2020/21 season, which is payable at the end of January 2021, has been declared at R5 008.99 per RV ton. This represents an increase of R16.43 per RV ton compared with the previous price estimate. The increase is mostly due to an increase in the LMDE (1.460m vs 1.433m) and a further decrease in the gross sugar tons estimate (2.044m vs 2.074m). Negative price factors, which significantly dented the level of the price increase, included another sharp decline in the Sugar:RV ratio (91.98% vs 92.44%) and an expected decline in export proceeds, largely stemming from the higher LMDE, lower export availability from a reduced sugar crop and resultant losses incurred from overpriced export tonnages when potentially bought-back at higher world sugar prices.