Sugar is a natural sweetener, a necessity for people's daily life, and an indispensable raw material for sugary foods such as drinks, sweets and cakes and the pharmaceutical industry. As a sweet food, sugar is one of the three essential nutrients (sugar, protein and fat) for human body, which can provide high calories for human body after eating (one kilogram of sugar can generate 3900 calories).

White sugar (hereinafter referred to as "white sugar") is almost composed of sucrose, and the sucrose content of white sugar is generally above 95%. The basic raw materials for sugar production are sugarcane and sugar beet. Sugarcane grows in tropical and subtropical regions, while sugar beet grows in temperate regions. The main producing areas of sugarcane sugar in China are mainly concentrated in Guangxi, Yunnan and Zhanjiang, Guangdong in the south, and the main producing areas of beet sugar are mainly concentrated in Xinjiang, Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia in the north. Although the raw materials are different, there is no difference in quality between cane sugar and beet sugar, and national standards are also applicable to them.

China is an important producer and consumer of sugar. Sugar planting plays an important role in China's agricultural economy, and its output and output value are second only to grain, oilseeds and cotton, ranking fourth.

Before 2003, China's sugar production was between 6 million and 8 million tons, and the consumption was basically maintained at around 8 million tons. Sugar production can't meet domestic demand, and it depends on sugar imports to make up for it in most years. Since 2003, China's sugar production has been around 1 00,000 tons, and its consumption has exceeded100,000 tons, showing a basic balance between production and sales (see figure1). China ranks third in the world in sugar production and sales after Brazil and India (if the EU is taken as a whole, China ranks fourth in sugar production in the world). China's sugar market has a high degree, the national macro-control mainly depends on the national reserve, and the market plays a leading role in the price formation process.

Figure 1: 1993 Comparison of sugar production and consumption in China.

Source: China Sugar Industry Association Image Source: Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange

It is one of the earliest countries in the world to make sugar from sugarcane, with a history of more than 2,000 years. Sugar beet production only started in recent decades.