Most Of The World's Sugar Comes From This Country

Is there anything in the world so wonderful as sugar? It can be found in all of your favorite foods and your least favorite ones too. It seems to be absolutely everywhere, but where is it all coming from? Who's producing the most sugar and how are they keeping up with the insane demand?

Many foods naturally produce sugar, but, according to the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture, the processed sugar that is used to make food products comes from the sugarcane plant. The leaves produce the sugars, which are then primarily stored in the stalks of the plant. Sugarcane is cut, harvested, juiced, processed, and refined several times before finally becoming crystalized sugar. Although sugarcane accounts for about 80% of all sugar production, per the International Sugar Organization, sugar beets and corn are also processed into sugar in the form of plain old sugar and high fructose corn syrup.

You may think that because the United States notoriously consumes so much sugar they would also produce the majority of it, but this is not at all the case. To be sure, the United States produces a very large quantity of sugar. According to World Population Review, it's actually Brazil that produces the most sugar in the world.

The USDA forecast that in 2022, the United States should produce around 8.2 million metric tons. At a striking 36.4 million tons, Brazil is predicted to continue producing the highest amount of sugar, with India following at 35.8 million. Thailand and China both also produce more sugar on average per year in metric tons than the United States.

Sugarcane is a tropical plant that thrives in equatorial regions, according to Encyclopedia Britannica, which is why it grows so well in climates that can be found in certain regions of Brazil, India, Thailand, China, and the United States. The plants can be grown faster, healthier, for longer in these places than they can in others, sustaining a world wide delicious industry of sweets.