KNOWING U&I SUGAR
Sugar, an important food also commonly known as sucrose, is a white crystalline substance, tastes sweet, a carbohydrate and 100% soluble in water. Sugar (Sucrose) is a natural combination of fructose and glucose. It is very stable product.
CHEMICAL FORMULA FOR SUGAR:
12CO2 + 11H2O = C12 H22 O11 + 12 O2
TYPES OF SUGAR:
Raw Refined Crystal
Muscavado Demerara Caster
Icing Premium Liquid Sugar Fine Liquid Sugar
Invert White Crystal Refined - Fine Granulated
RAW MATERIALS FOR SUGAR:
Sugarcane, refers to any of 6 to 37 species (depending on which taxonomic system is used) of tall perennial grasses of the genus Saccharum (family Poaceae, tribe Andropogoneae). Native to warm temperate to tropical regions of Asia, they have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar, and measure two to six meters (six to nineteen feet) tall. All sugar cane species interbreed, and the major commercial cultivars are complex hybrids.
Sugar cane products include table sugar, falernum, molasses, rum, cachaça (the national spirit of Brazil), bagasse and ethanol.
Sugar beet, a cultivated plant of Beta vulgaris, is a plant whose tuber contains a high concentration of sucrose. It is grown commercially for sugar production. Sugar beets and other B. vulgaris cultivars such as beetroot and chard share a common wild ancestor, the sea beet (Beta vulgaris maritima.)[1]
The European Union, the United States and Russia are the world's three largest sugar beet producers,[2] although only the European Union and Ukraine are significant exporters of sugar from beets. The U.S. harvested 1,004,600 acres (4 065 km²) of sugarbeets in 2008.[3] Beet sugar accounts for 30–35% of the world's sugar production.[4]
Other items used are Corn (only used for sweeteners)
HOW IS SUGAR MADE?
Raw Sugar is made in large refineries by crushing cane sugar (Sachrum officenarum) or beet root (Beta vulgaris) to obtain juice and boiling this juice to remove water and processing the juice so obtained to make unrefined raw sugar. This is sometimes also known as panela. Generally cane sugar is produced by tropical countries and the beet sugar by Europe.
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
Generally specified by U&I on application, Cane sugar mainly Brazil.
PACKING FOR SUGAR:
Sugar can be packed in minute sachets of 10 grams to 50kg or even larger packing sizes. Popular packed sizes are 500gms, 1kg, 2kg, 12.5kg, 25 kg and 50 kg.
Links to various sites regarding sugar and current sugar prices:
SUGAR STANDARDS & SPECIFCATIONS:
Link 2
Here is a Brazilian sugar news site –
http://www.jornalcana.com.br/Default.asp?smi=desktop
Link 3
Here is a website for ICE no11 price-
http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=sugar
Link 4
Here is another ICE index link-
http://www.theice.com/homepage.jhtml
Link 5
Here is the Wall St Journal Sugar streaming news site-
http://topics.wsj.com/subject/S/sugar/3994
Link 6
Here is a Market News site-
http://news.tradingcharts.com/futures/headlines/Sugar.html
Link 7
Here is the ICUMSA website-
http://www.icumsa.org/
Link 8
Here is the ISO in Canary Wharf E14-
http://www.isosugar.org/
Link 9
Here is the Bio Energy news site-
http://www.thebioenergysite.com/articles/625/brazil-sugar-annual-report-2010
REFINED SUGAR GRADE A - ICUMSA 45
Origin : Brazil
Icumsa : 45 RBU
Polarization : 99.80% Min
Ash content : 0.04% Max
Moisture : 0.04% Max
Solubility : 100% Free Flowing
Radiation : Normal Certified
Colour : Sparkling White
Granulation : Fine
CANE SUGAR - ICUMSA 100
Specifications:
Icumsa : 100 RBU
Polarization : 99.50% min
Ash content : 0.15% Max
Moisture : 0.10% Max
Solubility : 100% Free Flowing
Radiation : Normal Certified
Colour : White
Granulation : Fine
RAW BROWN CANE SUGAR GRADE E ICUMSA 600-800
Origin : South America/Brazil
Icumsa : 600 – 1200
Polarization : 96.00% Min
Ash content : 0.09% Max
Moisture : 0.09% Max
Colour : Brown
Solubility : 90% Free Flowing
Granulation : Fine
BEET SUGAR
Icumsa : 45 - 100 RBU
Polarization : 99.80% Min
Ash content : 0.04% Max
Moisture : 0.04% Max
Solubility : 100% Dry & Free Flowing
Radiation : Normal without presence of caesium or iodine
Colour : Sparkling White Crystal
Granulation : Fine to Medium
Reducing Sugar : 0.05% Max by weight
ICUMSA –
International Commission for Uniform Methods of Sugar Analysis
MEANING AND WORKING
ICUMSA is a world-wide body which brings together the activities of the National Committees for Sugar Analysis in more than thirty member countries. Work is carried out under various Subject headings, each headed by a Referee.
Methods are recommended for tentative approval by ICUMSA in the first instance. Upon meeting all of the Commission's requirements, methods are accorded official status. Methods which are demonstrably useful and have found an established application, or which do not lend themselves to collaborative testing are given an Accepted status"
An ICUMSA rating is an international unit for expressing the purity of the sugar in solution, and is directly related to the colour of the sugar. Be aware that there are different types of ICUMSA units. For Brazilian sugar, the lower the ICUMSA figure the whiter the sugar. However, this is not the case in the E.U. for some unknown reason, which has been the subject of much discussion.
SGS of Sao Paulo has published specifications for ICUMSA numbers for E.U. product which run contrary to the Brazilian specifications; for example, in Brazil SGS has an ICUMSA rating of 45 rbu for refined, indicating the highest quality, with other grades of lower quality (such as Special Extra Crystal) having a higher ICUMSA of 150 and so forth. This rating method is confirmed by the Institute of Sugar and Alcohol in Brazil.
The TU is heavily dependent upon "ash points", which are defined as "Conductivity ash, % , expressed to three decimal places" (British Sugar Corp., Central Laboratory, ICUMSA Headquarters). Further used to weight the TU is "reflectance Grade Colour" and "Solution Colour" or "Filtered Colour" as it is referred to, which have formulas for determination equally confusing as the one for "Ash Points". Thus, as you see, this is not easily understood by the novice.
www.hsssugar.com/pdf/ui_sugar_800-1200_specs.pdf
www.hsssugar.com/pdf/ui_sugar_ic150_specs.pdf
www.hsssugar.com/pdf/ui_sugar_ic45_specs.pdf
