Why have sugar stocks been on a roll in the stock markets?

In the last few weeks, most of the sugar stocks have again been in a very sweet spot. This is evidenced by the number of sugar stocks that are recording new highs on a consistent basis. Sugar stocks like Triveni Engineering, Balrampur Chini and many other sugar companies scaled new yearly highs. Others like Dhampur, KM Sugars are at upper circuits.

What is the reason? This season, sugar prices are expected to increase by a whopping 16-17% due to a pickup in industrial demand and higher exports. Industrial demand constitutes bulk of sugar demand, coming from confectionaries and bakeries. In addition, a sharp fall in inventory levels has also helped prices to remain buoyant. Ethanol blending is the other big opportunity in sugar for future growth, based on India ethanol blending projections.