World sugar market fundamentals are decidedly bearish at the start of the Outlook. World prices have continued to follow a downward trend in the last 12 months, and with lower price volatility, as markets adjust to a third consecutive year of a global sugar surplus (). Higher global production can be largely attributed to a recovery in output the world’s largest producer, Brazil, although harvests were also larger in the European Union, the United States, Mexico, India and China. As a result, world raw sugar prices have fallen by 26% in the last 12 months and white sugar prices by 20%. Sugar prices are expected to continue to ease back through the remainder of 2012/13 on the back of abundant supplies and increasing stock cover.See the Glossary for the definition of crop marketing years for sugar and products. The replenishment of stocks will elevate stocks-to-use to a six-year high at the start of the Outlook and effectively signal the end of the period of low stocks, which has been a feature of the past four years.