Historical Survey and World Production

Lack of data makes it difficult to establish just when sugar first became known to humankind, but it probably was first used by man in Polynesia from where it spread to India. In 510 B.C. Emperor Darius of what was then Persia, invaded India, where he found sugarcane growing on the banks of the River Indus. He called it the reeds, which produce honey without bees. 

World centrifugal production for 2003-04 was over 142 million tons. About 60 percent of this came from cane, and about 40 percent from beet. World sugar consumption for 2003-04 is estimated at 140 million tons [1]. 

The data in Table 6.1 taken from Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (2004), list the annual production and 

TABLE 6.1 Annual Production and Consumption of Refined Sugar for Some Countries in the World 

Country Year Production xlOOO tons Consumption xlOOO tons 

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