Trade in sugar and sugar products
Sugars are used in all industries, from Fuel and Energy to producing glues and beers.But known most of all for their consumer goods. Sugars of all types are traded in metric tons.
Sugar Cane
Sugarcane is a genus of tropical grass that requires strong sunlight and plenty of water for satisfactory growth. The Latin names of the species include Saccharum officinarum, S. spontaneum, S. barberi and S. sinense. As with most commercial crops, there are many cultivars available to the sugar cane farmer, usually hybrids of several species. Some varieties grow up to 5 meters.
The sugarcane itself looks quite like bamboo cane and this is where the sucrose is stored. In the right climate, the cane will grow in 12 months and, when it is cut, will grow again in another 12 months provided the roots are undisturbed.
A typical sugar content for ripe sugar cane would be 10 weight percent, but the figure depends on the variety and varies from season to season and location to location. Similarly, the yield of sugarcane from the field varies considerably, but a rough and complete total value to use for estimating sugar production is 100 tonnes of sugarcane per hectare or 10 tonnes of sugar per hectare.
Sugar Beet
Sugar beet is a temperate climate two-year root crop. It produces sugar during the first year of growth to look over the winter and then flowers and seeds in the second year. It is so effective in spring and is harvested during the first fall / early winter. When there is sugar cane there are many cultivars available for beets. The beetroot stores the sucrose in the bulbous root which has a strong resemblance to a fat parsnip.
A typical sugar content for ripe beets is 17% by weight men value depends on the variety and it varies from year to year and place to place. This is significantly more than the sucrose content of ripe sugar cane, but the yield of beets per hectare is much lower than that of sugar cane, so that the expected sugar production is only about 7 tonnes per hectare.