Growers may have noticed that over recent weeks there has been a substantial drop in the QSL Harvest Pool price. The percentage of sugar priced in the QSL Harvest Pool has also dropped from 68 per cent to 25 per cent.

These changes have occurred because QSL has allowed a substantial amount of Grower Economic Interest (GEI) sugar to be brought into the QSL Harvest Pool, as a result of the nomination of QSL as a GEI Marketer for a number of growers that supply sugar to Wilmar mills.

QSL’s inclusion of this additional tonnage in the QSL Harvest Pool may have a negative or positive impact on the final pool result, which will not be finalised until June 2018. The final pool outcome will depend on movements over the period until June 2018 in both the raw sugar futures price (ICE 11) and the relative Australian and US dollar values, and also on pricing undertaken by QSL in relation to this pool.

QSL’s inclusion of this additional sugar in the QSL Harvest Pool and the resulting drop in the percentage priced has created additional exposure for those growers whose Harvest Pool tonnage was set back in February 2017.