Sao Martinho Seeks Sugar Mill Purchases

Sao Martinho SA, Brazil’s third-largest sugar maker, is in acquisition talks with “several” mills in the country as a surge in the commodity’s price encouraged investments, Chairman Guilherme Sabino Ometto has told Bloomberg.

Sugar will probably hold above 20 cents per pound for the next two years as output declines in India, while Brazilian mills turn most of their sugar cane into ethanol, Ometto said in an interview in Sao Paulo today.

Sugar prices have almost doubled this year after drought harmed crops in India, the world’s top consumer and biggest producer after Brazil, forcing the Asian nation to import the sweetener. Sugar for March delivery rose 1 cent to 23.25 cents per pound at 1:58 p.m. on ICE Futures U.S. in New York.