Hi All I recently visited the South African Sugar Association and got some figures on the world sugar trends. Apparently we as they fourth largest producer are going to produce our biggest crop ever, meaning that a lot is going to be exported. Likewise, in the face of ever cheaper petroleum products Brazilians are buying petrol/gasoline powered cars and hence a lot of brazilian sugar that used to be used for ethanol production to run ethanol powered cars is no longer needed and will be dumped on the open market. Brazil is the worlds largest producer. I do not know how the sugar beet yield will be from the US and europe this year. Apparently China needs to import a bit. Anyhow, the result it that the sugar price will be very low. Apparently the SA quota is going to the US at R2600 ($421 at todays currency closing) a metric ton which they say is 20c/pound (I think thats SA censt so in dollar terms it's about 3.5 cents a pound). Given that our currency is depreciating fast this means that sugar is getting a lot cheaper for US buyers of SA sugar, and other countries with similar currency disasters such as India and Indonesia which are also big sugar producers. And I geuss we just have to see how austalia stands up to all of this as they are a huge sugar producer as well. Apparently NAFTA is placing increasing pressure on the US to increase the amount of sugar brought up from mexico as well which may help to bring down the price of HFCS as it will be a case of compete or die for the big midwest HFCS plants (who are diversifying into the byproducts market so fast they probably coudn't care anyhow!!) Anyhow, for those contemplating winter feeding bills, hope this is good news. Keep well Garth Garth Cambray Camdini Apiaries Grahamstown Apis mellifera capensis Eastern Cape Prov. South Africa Time = Honey After careful consideration, I have decided that if I am ever a V.I.P the I. may not stand for important. (rather influential, ignorant, idiotic, intelectual, illadvised etc)