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ICUMSA 45, ICUMSA 150 or VHP? How the White Premium Should Shape Your Brazilian Sugar Purchase in November 2026

By Abe Dinkel, Commodities Trader, Dossix International Trade Inc · November 9, 2026 · 6 min read

Three grades, two benchmarks

Most buyers who contact us already know they want “Brazilian sugar”. The harder question is which grade. Brazil ships three that matter for international buyers: VHP raw sugar, ICUMSA 150 white sugar and ICUMSA 45 refined white sugar. The difference between them is mostly colour and purity, and that difference has a price.

The two world benchmarks map onto this split. ICE’s Sugar No. 11 contract prices raw centrifugal cane sugar based on 96 degrees average polarization, delivered FOB the receiver’s vessel in the origin country, with Brazil among the deliverable origins. ICE’s White Sugar (London No. 5) contract specifies a minimum polarisation of 99.8 degrees, moisture of at most 0.06% and colour of at most 45 ICUMSA units. In other words, ICUMSA 45 is the grade the white benchmark is written around, and VHP trades off the raw benchmark.

ICUMSA 150 sits between the two and has no exchange contract of its own, so it is always priced by negotiation. Our typical specifications are polarization of at least 99.80°Z and colour of 45 RBU or less for ICUMSA 45, at least 99.70°Z and 100–150 RBU for ICUMSA 150, and 99.20–99.49°Z with 600–1,200 RBU for VHP. Final figures are always set by the SGS inspection and the signed SPA.

The white premium right now: about US$110–117 a tonne

The white premium is simply the price of white sugar minus the price of raw sugar, expressed in the same unit. As the analysts at Czarnikow explain, refiners buy raws on the No. 11, refine them and sell whites on the No. 5, so the premium tells them how profitable refining is, and a larger premium should encourage more refined output.

The International Sugar Organization publishes both sides every day. On November 6, 2026 its ISA daily raw price was 17.77 c/lb and its White Sugar Price Index was US$509.00/t, or 23.09 c/lb. That is a gap of 5.32 c/lb. Converting the raw price at 2,204.62 lb per tonne gives about US$392/t, so the premium was roughly US$117/t.

The same ISO table shows the premium holding up while prices fell. On November 2 the raw price was 18.60 c/lb and the white index US$517.75/t, a premium of about US$108/t. By November 6 raw had dropped 0.83 c/lb and whites US$8.75/t, so the gap widened by around US$9/t. One caveat: ISO’s raw figure averages the first three New York positions and its white index the first two London positions, so this is a broad gauge rather than a tradable spread.

Why is the premium wide? In June, sugar analyst Claudiu Covrig told ChiniMandi that London whites were rallying on concern about refined sugar availability, with India restricting exports in the second half of 2026 and possibly through 2027, while raw futures were pressured by Brazilian supply. Refined sugar has been the tighter market for months.

What Brazil actually ships

Brazil is mainly a raw sugar exporter. Official Comex Stat data from Brazil’s trade ministry (MDIC), queried on November 9, show 17.86 million tonnes of HS 1701.14 cane sugar (the code for VHP raws) exported in January–September 2026, worth US$6.22 billion FOB, against 2.78 million tonnes of HS 1701.99 white and refined sugar worth US$1.15 billion. That is about 86.5% raw and 13.5% white by volume.

Divide value by volume and the average export price was about US$348/t for raws and US$415/t for whites, a gap of roughly US$67/t. That is narrower than today’s futures premium because it is a nine-month average, it mixes ICUMSA 45 with lower-grade whites under the same customs code, and contracts are often priced months before loading.

The practical point for buyers: white sugar is the smaller slice of Brazil’s export flow. When refined supply is tight worldwide, ICUMSA 45 allocations at Santos fill first, and a buyer with a firm requirement should plan earlier for white sugar than for VHP.

Which grade fits your plant

VHP is for refineries. If you run a refinery, a premium of roughly US$110–117/t is the margin you have to cover energy, process losses and overheads. VHP ships in bulk, so it suits buyers who can take a full vessel; our minimum for bulk is 12,500 MT.

ICUMSA 45 is for direct food use: beverages, confectionery, dairy, bakery and retail sugar where colour and purity are written into your own product specification. At a US$117/t premium, the difference on a 12,500-tonne cargo is about US$1.46 million compared with raws, so do not pay ICUMSA 45 prices for a use that does not need it.

ICUMSA 150 suits re-packing, private label and industrial users who need white, free-flowing sugar but not the tightest colour limit. Because it is negotiated, the key is to agree the spec, the inspection method and the price basis clearly in the SPA.

How to read a quote against the premium

Before you compare offers, put them on the same basis. Ask whether the price is FOB Santos or CIF your port, and which futures month it references. Then check the gap between the white and raw offers you receive. If a seller’s ICUMSA 45 price is barely above its VHP price, or far below the London No. 5 level after you take freight out, ask why. Our ICUMSA 45 verification checklist covers the documents and checks in detail, and our port line-up report explains loading timing at Santos.

Also confirm the testing method: colour in ICUMSA units, polarization, moisture and ash, by SGS or an equivalent inspector at loading. A grade name on an offer means nothing without those numbers attached.

Dossix trader's view

Abe Dinkel's take: I ask every buyer the same first question: what does your plant do with the sugar? A refinery that buys ICUMSA 45 is paying someone else to do its job, and a beverage plant that buys VHP has bought a problem. With the white premium above US$100 a tonne, choosing the right grade saves more than haggling over a dollar on price. Dossix supplies ICUMSA 45, ICUMSA 150 and VHP from Brazil, loaded at Santos and shipped CIF to your port. We deal directly with end buyers, so tell us your use, volume and port and we will quote the grade that fits.