Sugar Prices Rise after El Nino Damages Crops

Sugar Prices Rise after El Nino Damages Crops

厄尔尼诺损害农作物后，糖价上涨

【原文听力】

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　　By Gena Bennett

　　26 November 2023

　　The sudden and large increase in sugar prices left Ishaq Abdulraheem with few choices. Raising the cost of bread would mean decreasing sales, so the Nigerian baker decided to cut his production by half.

　　For other struggling bakers in the West African nation, it was the latest of many problems they have faced. Many bakers just closed their shops.

　　Sugar is needed to make bread, the daily food for Nigeria's 210 million people. For many, bread offers a less costly source of calories, or energy. Rising sugar prices — an increase of 55 percent in two months — means fewer bakers and less bread.

　　"It is a very serious situation," Abdulraheem said.

　　Increases worldwide

　　Sugar is trading at the highest prices since 2011, mainly due to lower supplies around the world.

　　The increase followed the unusually dry weather that damaged harvests in India and Thailand, the world's second- and third-largest exporters.

　　This is just the latest problem for developing nations already dealing with shortages of rice and bans on some food trade. Others include the effects of the weather system El Nino and the war in Ukraine. And, increasingly, sugar is being used for biofuels, so worldwide reserves of sugar are at their lowest since 2009.

　　Brazil is the biggest sugar exporter, but its harvest will only help supply later in 2024. Until then, sugar-importing countries — like most of those in sub-Saharan Africa — remain at risk.

　　Abba Usman is a trader in the Nigeria capital of Abuja. He said a 50-kilogram bag of sugar that cost $66 a week ago now costs $81. As prices rise, his customers are decreasing.

　　"The price keeps increasing every day, and we don't know why," Usman said.

　　El Nino

　　It is partly due to El Nino, a natural event that shifts the weather around the world and can cause extreme weather conditions like drought or flooding. Scientists believe climate change is making El Nino stronger.

　　India experienced its driest August in over a century. Crops in the western state of Maharashtra, which accounts for over a third of its sugarcane production, did not grow properly.

　　The Indian Sugar Mills Association said India's sugar production is likely to decrease by 8 percent this year. The world's most populated nation is also the biggest user of sugar and is now restricting sugar exports.

　　El Nino affected both the amount and quality of the harvest in Thailand, said Naradhip Anantasuk, leader of the Thailand Sugar Planters Association. He expects only 76 million metric tons of sugarcane in the 2024 harvest season, compared with 93 million metric tons this year.

　　Looking ahead, Kelly Goughary, a senior researcher at Gro Intelligence, said Brazil's harvest is predicted to be 20 percent bigger than last year. But since the country is in the Southern Hemisphere, the increase in supply will not come until March.

　　Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) shows that the world now has less than 68 days of sugar in reserves to meet its needs.

　　Some countries, including Indonesia and Kenya, have cut back their sugar imports. China was forced to release sugar from its reserves for the first time in six years to offset high prices.

　　Back in Nigeria, Africa's largest economy, the struggle of bakers is an example of the effects of rising food, fuel costs and the large impact of high sugar prices.

　　Bread is often the only food poor families have enough money to buy. When bakers raise bread prices, as they did by 15 percent earlier this year, some people go hungry.

　　Not passing along higher costs is not possible, said Mansur Umar, president of the Nigerian Bakers' Association.

　　"There is no way you can buy high and you sell low," he said.

　　I'm Gena Bennett.

　　Aniruddha Ghosal and Chinedu Asadu reported this story for the Associated Press. Gena Bennett adapted it for VOA Learning English.

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　　Gena Bennett

　　2023年11月26日

　　糖价的突然和大幅上涨让伊沙克·阿卜杜勒拉希姆面临了几乎没有选择的局面。提高面包的价格意味着销售量的减少，所以这位尼日利亚的面包师傅决定将他的生产量减半。

　　对于西非国家中其他正在挣扎的面包师傅来说，这是他们面临的许多问题中的最新一个。许多面包师傅只是关闭了他们的店铺。

　　糖是制作面包的必需品，面包是尼日利亚2.1亿人的日常食物。对于许多人来说，面包提供了一种较为便宜的热量或能量来源。糖价的上涨——两个月内增长了55%——意味着更少的面包师傅和更少的面包。

　　"这是一个非常严重的情况，"阿卜杜勒拉希姆说。

　　全球范围内的增长

　　糖价已经达到了自2011年以来的最高水平，主要是由于全球供应减少。

　　价格上涨是由于异常干燥的天气损害了印度和泰国的收成，这两个国家是世界第二大和第三大出口国。

　　这只是发展中国家已经在应对稻米短缺和一些食品贸易禁令的问题中的最新问题。其他问题包括厄尔尼诺天气系统的影响和乌克兰的战争。而且，越来越多的糖被用于生物燃料，所以全球的糖储备已经降至2009年以来的最低水平。

　　巴西是最大的糖出口国，但其收获只会在2024年晚些时候帮助供应。在此之前，像撒哈拉以南非洲的大多数国家这样的糖进口国仍面临风险。

　　阿巴·乌斯曼是尼日利亚首都阿布贾的一名商人。他说，一周前售价为66美元的50公斤糖现在售价为81美元。随着价格上涨，他的客户数量正在减少。

　　"价格每天都在上涨，我们不知道原因，"乌斯曼说。

　　厄尔尼诺

　　这部分是由于厄尔尼诺，这是一种自然现象，它改变了全球的天气，并可能导致极端的天气条件，如干旱或洪水。科学家认为气候变化正在加强厄尔尼诺的力量。

　　印度经历了一个多世纪以来最干燥的八月。在占其甘蔗产量超过三分之一的西部马哈拉施特拉邦，作物没有正常生长。

　　印度糖厂协会表示，印度今年的糖产量可能会减少8%。这个世界上人口最多的国家也是糖的最大使用者，现在正在限制糖的出口。

　　泰国糖厂协会的领导人纳拉迪普·阿南塔苏克表示，厄尔尼诺影响了泰国收获量和质量。他预计2024年的收获季节只有7600万公吨的甘蔗，而今年是9300万公吨。

　　展望未来，Gro Intelligence的高级研究员凯利·戈哈里表示，预计巴西的收获将比去年大20%。但由于该国位于南半球，供应增加直到三月才会到来。

　　美国农业部（USDA）的数据显示，世界现在只有不到68天的糖储备来满足其需求。

　　包括印度尼西亚和肯尼亚在内的一些国家已经削减了他们的糖进口。中国被迫首次在六年内从其储备中释放糖以抵消高价格。

　　回到尼日利亚，非洲最大的经济体，面包师傅的困境是食品、燃料成本上升和糖价高涨的大影响的一个例子。

　　面包往往是贫困家庭唯一有足够的钱购买的食物。当面包师傅提高面包价格，就像他们在今年早些时候提高了15%一样，一些人会挨饿。

　　尼日利亚面包师傅协会的主席曼苏尔·乌马尔表示，不可能不转嫁更高的成本。

　　他说：“你不可能买贵卖便宜。”

　　我是吉娜·贝内特。

　　阿尼鲁达·戈萨尔和奇内杜·阿萨杜为美联社报道了这个故事。吉娜·贝内特为美国之音学习英语改编了它。

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　　这个故事中的词汇

　　baker–n.以制作面包为生的人

　　reserves–n. 被储存以备将来使用的东西

　　drought–n. 长时间没有足够水源的时期

　　sugarcane–n.用于生产糖的高大草类