(Yicai Global) Nov. 19 -- Shares in Cofco Sugar Holding slumped as much as 8.6 percent today after the leading Chinese sugar trader said profit is likely to more than halve this year from last year as extreme weather has wiped out large swathes of its beet crop, a key raw ingredient used to make the sweetener.

Cofco Sugar’s stock price [SHE:600737] was trading down 6.1 percent at CNY9.85 (USD1.54) at 2 p.m. China time today. Earlier it had tumbled to CNY9.59.

Profit could fall by as much as CNY300 million (USD47 million) this year, the Beijing-based firm said yesterday. Last year, the company posted CNY529 million in profit.

Heavy rain and snow as well as plummeting temperatures in the past month have affected 6,400 hectares of beet, around 20 percent of its crop, delaying the harvest, the Beijing-based firm said yesterday.

The dominant white sugar futures contract SR2201 is now trading at CNY6,070 (USD950.53) per ton, a new high since 2018.

The significant drop in beet output this year has made companies reluctant to sell, First Futures said. Some cane sugar refineries in southwestern China have halted production, leading to a growing drop in inventory. The gap between production and demand in the country’s sugar market could last for some time, it added.

Editor: Kim Taylor