Technical Abstract: World sugar production is around 160 Mt yearly with a per capita consumption of about 23 kg. Total utilization is increasing approximately 1.4% annually thanks to the improved standard of living in densely populated countries like China and India. About one-quarter of world production is extracted from beets (Beta vulgaris L. ssp. vulgaris), and the remainder from cane (Saccharum officinarum L.). The chemical composition of both commercial sugars is sucrose (more than 99.5% in white crystalline sugar) despite the crops being very different in their climatic requirements and photosynthetic pathways. Beets yield better in temperate climates, especially in areas such as France, Germany, northern USA, whereas cane requires a tropical to subtropical environment (India, Australia, Cuba, Brazil, etc.). Sugar from beet and cane has competed in the market place since the earliest sugar beet factories produced sugar in the early 1800s. One advantage cane processing enjoys, among other things, is that cane factories can be energy sufficient due to the burning of bagasse (fibrous matter remaining after crushing the cane stalks), whereas the power for processing beets generally relies on fossil fuels. The cost of cane sugar is currently lower and the price differential for sugar extracted from beets and from cane follows the price of crude oil.