ICUMSA 45, 100, 150 and VHP: what the sugar numbers actually mean
The grade on a sugar offer is a colour reading, not a brand. Here is what each number means, who buys it, and how to read a real specification.
By Hugo Amanajás
ICUMSA is not a brand or a quality seal. It is a colour scale. The name comes from the International Commission for Uniform Methods of Sugar Analysis, and the number printed next to a sugar (45, 100, 150, or 600 to 1200 for VHP) measures how much light the dissolved sugar absorbs. The lower the number, the whiter the crystal. That is all it is, and at the same time it is what sets the price, the use and the buyer.
What the number actually measures
The ICUMSA figure is read in IU, ICUMSA units. A reading of 45 means the sugar is water white and fit for direct human consumption. As the number climbs, the crystal carries more colour, more molasses film and, usually, more moisture. Colour is the headline figure, but on a serious specification it never travels alone. Polarisation tells you the sucrose content: ICUMSA 45 runs at 99.8 degrees minimum, VHP closer to 99.4. Moisture, ash and grain size fill in the rest. An offer that states only a grade and a price is not a specification. It is a starting point.
The grades that matter in trade
- 01ICUMSA 45
Refined white sugar
Water white, 45 IU or below, polarisation 99.8 minimum, moisture around 0.04 percent. This is the retail and food-service grade: table sugar, soft drinks, confectionery, dairy. Most demand from the Gulf, West and East Africa and parts of Asia is for exactly this, in 50 kg bags or one-tonne jumbo bags.
- 02ICUMSA 100 / 150
Mill white and crystal
Off-white to pale cream, between 100 and 150 IU. Common in domestic markets and for industrial buyers who reprocess. It costs less than 45, and an honest seller prices the colour difference rather than passing 150 off as 45.
- 03VHP
Very High Polarisation raw sugar
Raw cane sugar, colour 600 to 1200 IU, polarisation around 99.4. This is refinery feedstock, not a consumer product. It ships in bulk to refineries that turn it into white sugar. VHP and ICUMSA 45 are different products for different buyers, and treating them as interchangeable is one of the most common reasons a deal collapses.
- 04VVHP / Brown
The rest of the family
VVHP is a higher-polarisation raw sugar. Brown sugar covers a range of coloured, higher-molasses products for specific food uses. Each has its own specification and its own, smaller pool of buyers.
What to check on a specification
- Polarisation (Pol), the sucrose percentage.
- Colour in ICUMSA units, with the test method named.
- Moisture, ash, and for refined grades the sulphur dioxide limit.
- Grain size and packaging: 50 kg polypropylene bags or one-tonne jumbo bags, bagged or in bulk.
- Crop year, since colour and moisture drift as sugar sits in storage.
/ A number is a claim until it is verified
Any specification, however detailed, is a written claim by the seller. It becomes a fact when it is written into the contract and checked on your cargo at loading by SGS or Intertek. That is the whole point of independent inspection, and it is why a genuine seller has no reason to resist it.
The full documentary procedure referenced here is published on our Procedures page.
View Procedures/ About the author
Hugo Amanajás
Hugo Amanajás is an engineer and commodities broker, and the founder of Juros e Bolsa, a CVM-authorised investment advisory in Brazil. He works on the origination and structuring of Brazilian commodities and writes Duna Trading's Insights on how the physical trade actually works, from documentary procedure to compliance.
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