Sugar is one of the most important commodities in the world since is the main carbohydrate in the majority of sweet foods. Sugar is found in the tissues of most plants, it’s used for sweetening and has different types.
Over the period of 2009 to 2018, its production increased some 14% due to high demand. In those years, the largest importers were China, Indonesia, and the United States. In 2016, Brazil was the country that produced the most sugar, with 768.7 million tons. It was followed by India, with 348.4, and China with 122.7.
So, before getting into the sugar industry, you’ll need to know that it is a volatile commodity that is affected by a large number of factors. Here are some of them:
- Weather. Wet weather may wreak havoc on crops and limit supplies, raising prices.
- Government assistance is available. Local sugar producers are protected by government subsidies and tariffs. They can, however, disrupt the market by artificially increasing supply and reducing prices.
- Global demand and supply. Farmers grow more crops when demand is expected to be strong, and fewer crops when demand is low. Sugar prices are affected if global demand exceeds or falls short of supply.
- Health concerns. Governments are under pressure to act in response to high obesity rates, which may include taxes or restrictions, resulting in a drop in consumption and prices.
With that being said, it’s important to stay updated on the price of sugar if you want to invest in the business. For that, we recommend Commodities-API, an online API that provides real-time data on commodity rates such as rice, sugar, and wheat, among others. If you don’t know what an API is, you should know that it’s a connection between two computers or applications that allows them to talk to each other.
How does it work?
The data from Commodities-API can be given in any currency you want, from a large list of over 170 options, and it has a precision of 2 decimal points. You can also get updated data every 60 seconds and make 100.000 API calls per month. To obtain the data, you must first log in to the website, obtain an API key, and then select the currency and metal you desire. That’s all there is to it, and you can use the API however you want.
Commodities-API uses JSON API, or JavaScript Object Notation, which is an encoding approach designed to eliminate the need for each application to write its own ad-hoc code in order to connect with servers that interact in a predefined way. It is used by Commodities-API. Entity types, bundles, and fields, as well as data storage and data structures, are all implemented in the JSON API module.
Where does the information come from?
The information is collected from banks and the stock market, and then Commodities-API uses it to give you the most reliable and safest data. Apart from that, this API uses bank-grade 256-bit SSL encryption, so your connection will always be secure.
Also published on Medium.