New ICE Sugar Deal to Include Fewer Eligible Ports

Intercontinental Exchange's new contract for white sugar shipped in containers will feature fewer eligible delivery ports than the current break bulk contract, an executive said in a presentation on Thursday.

 

Last month, ICE announced plans to launch a new contract to allow for delivery of sugar in containers, which has grown in recent years to account for around two-thirds of exchange-quality refined sugar imports, Tim Barry, vice president for product development, said during the JSG Commodities symposium.

 

The new contract, which will trade alongside the existing white sugar contract, will be deliverable to 20 ports in 17 countries, as opposed to 94 ports in 43 contracts for the existing break bulk contract, Barry said.

 

The exchange sought to focus on "ports that had maintained an ability to ship commercially relevant volumes of sugar," Barry said.

 

The container port list for the new contract includes six ports in the Americas including two in Brazil, six in Europe, one each in India, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab emirates, two in Malaysia and two in Thailand.

 

"Going forward, new ports and new origins can be added as needed or desired," Barry said. "In designing these contract terms and in working with trade, we've tried wherever possible to ensure that they line up with commercial practice."

 

Under the new contract, title will transfer when the receiver accepts the required documents and the deliverer receives payments.

 

The launch would likely take place closer to the end of the first quarter of 2016, Barry said.