Brazilian sugar grades and ICUMSA colour, explained

The short answer

"ICUMSA 45" describes a colour ceiling from a commodity futures contract, not a type of sugar Brazil produces or exports under that name. Brazil's own sugar identity-and-quality rule, MAPA Instrução Normativa 47 of 30 August 2018, sets out several sugar types with their own colour limits, and none of them is called ICUMSA 45. Lower ICUMSA readings mean a whiter, more refined sugar, so the tightest colour limit in Brazil's own rule, Refinado Granulado at a maximum of 60 ICUMSA units, is still a softer, higher ceiling than the 45-unit maximum an exchange contract sets. The 45-unit figure belongs to the ICE Futures Europe White Sugar contract's delivery specification, and it is a tighter colour requirement than anything Brazil's own rule names.

Brazil's own types, under MAPA IN 47/2018

IN 47/2018 splits Brazilian sugar into Group I, for direct human consumption, and Group II, for industrial use, with these colour maxima attached to each named type. The rule sets no export-specific provision, and no type in it is labelled "ICUMSA 45."

Where the exchange specs come from

Two separate futures markets set their own delivery specifications for sugar, and both are worth knowing because they are what "ICUMSA 45" and similar shorthand actually reference.

ICE Futures Europe's White Sugar contract, Rule IIII.2(a), requires a minimum polarisation of 99.8 degrees, a maximum moisture of 0.06%, and "colour of a maximum of 45 units ICUMSA attenuation index at time of delivery to vessel," with origin restricted to the exchange's own List of Deliverable Countries of Production. This is the source of the "ICUMSA 45" figure that circulates in buyer searches. Whether Brazil is currently on that deliverable-countries list was not confirmed against the current list while preparing this page.

ICE Futures US's Sugar No. 11 contract, the benchmark raw-sugar contract, specifies "sound raw centrifugal cane sugar based on 96 degrees average polarization," under Rule 11.00(b), with premiums payable from 97 degrees upward. Rule 11.00(c)(i) explicitly names Brazil among the deliverable growths for this contract. This is the contract Brazilian VHP raw sugar actually trades against in practice, and it carries no 45-unit colour figure at all, since colour is not the parameter it specifies.

The practical point: an offer quoting "ICUMSA 45 sugar from Brazil" is using a phrase borrowed from a white-sugar futures spec to describe what, if it is a real Brazilian product, is more likely priced and graded against the raw-sugar contract or against MAPA's own types. A seller who cannot say which of Brazil's own types (VHP, VVHP, Cristal Branco and so on) they are actually offering, and who only ever quotes "ICUMSA 45," is worth a closer look under the checks on how to verify a Brazilian sugar exporter.

Measurement, briefly

ICUMSA stands for the International Commission for Uniform Methods of Sugar Analysis, which publishes the Methods Book that colour testing follows. The specific method number used for the colour readings quoted above was not confirmed while preparing this page; if a certificate of analysis cites a method number, that is a detail to confirm against the current ICUMSA Methods Book rather than assume.

Where this fits

The company-verification side of a sugar deal, including the documented fraud pattern the ICC has recorded since 2006, is on how to verify a Brazilian sugar exporter and, in full, on export scams when sourcing from Brazil. Export volumes and destinations are on Brazilian sugar export data.

Sources

• MAPA IN 47/2018, sugar RTIQ, types and colour maxima by group: sistemasweb.agricultura.gov.br/sislegis, primary.
• ICE Futures Europe White Sugar contract, Rule IIII.2(a): ice.com/publicdocs/contractregs, primary. Brazil's current status on the deliverable-countries list not confirmed.
• ICE Futures US Sugar No. 11 contract, Rule 11.00(b) and (c)(i), Brazil named as a deliverable growth: ice.com/publicdocs/rulebooks, primary.
• ICUMSA as the body publishing the colour-measurement Methods Book: general reference; the specific method number used in these specs not confirmed in this pass.

Facts checked 24 September 2026. Futures-exchange delivery specifications and deliverable-origin lists are amended by the exchange; confirm the current rulebook before relying on a specific figure.