Raw Cane Sugar (VHP)

99.4° pol, ICUMSA 600–1200 — refinery feedstock

VHP — Very High Polarisation — raw cane sugar is the workhorse of the international sugar trade and the physical behind the ICE No. 11 contract. It is contracted primarily on polarisation, 99.4° minimum, which is the sucrose percentage and therefore the value; a raw sugar contract is written so that polarisation above or below the basis adjusts the price. Colour runs ICUMSA 600 to 1,200, giving the characteristic amber-brown crystal coated in a film of molasses. Moisture sits at 0.15% or below and safety factor — a moisture-to-non-sucrose ratio that predicts whether the sugar will deteriorate in storage — is the other number that matters, because raw sugar in bulk stowage can heat and degrade if it is shipped wet. Brazil dominates supply out of Santos and Paranaguá, with Thailand, India, Australia and Central America behind.

Buy VHP where the sugar will be refined rather than consumed: cane refineries, sugar mills topping up throughput, and industrial users with their own processing. It is by a wide margin the cheapest way to buy sucrose, because you are not paying for someone else's refining pass. It moves overwhelmingly in bulk vessel rather than bags, in parcels of 25,000 to 50,000 tonnes, which is itself a constraint — a buyer without bulk discharge and a refinery to feed cannot use it. Do not buy VHP as a substitute for white sugar in food manufacture; it is not a food-grade finished product, it carries molasses, colour and higher ash, and no amount of price advantage changes that. For direct food use at low cost, mill white is the answer. CBIL brokers VHP raw against SGS certification of polarisation, colour, moisture and safety factor, on FOB Santos and Paranaguá, CFR and CIF terms.