He says that recent "alarmist reports" need to be tempered with a touch of reality, and that increases in the retail price of sugar should have very little impact on Australian shoppers' hip pocket.

The Australian sugar industry produces around 4.5 million tonnes of raw sugar, with Australian domestic consumption around one million tonnes.

All raw sugar is priced and sold in US dollars and the international price has nearly doubled during the past two years.

Raw sugar is sold to refineries which in turn supply product to supermarkets, manufacturers and food processors.

“On average Australians consume around 45 kilograms of sugar per year – in packaged form, in beverages and foods – which is about average for developed economies," Mr Ballantyne said.

"Even at today’s increased prices, the average Australian consumes only around $25 worth of raw sugar per year.

"There has been some concentration in the media about the hike in the price of retail sugar, but, in fact, only about 15 per cent of sugar sold in Australia is sold as sugar on the supermarket shelf.

"This rise in raw sugar prices, passed through to the retail refined product should cost the average consumer little more than $2 per year or less than five cents per week."

By comparison, there is about 2.4¢ worth of raw sugar in a can of soft drink and about the same in a can of baked beans.

"Even a 25pc increase in sugar price is unlikely to cause a price explosion unless some manufacturers inappropriately used the sugar price increase as a trigger for much larger increases," Mr Ballantyne said.

The cane industry is experiencing prices which are at 30-year highs, following a worldwide production slump and strong consumption growth.

The improvement follows a number of years of unprofitable low prices and crop losses through drought, flood and disease.

"Cane growers will use the income from this peak in prices to make vital and expensive upgrades to machinery and farm practices," Mr Ballantyne said.

"We can expect the market cycle to continue in its volatile cycles and growers need to shore themselves up for the times when the price again drops.

"Raw sugar sales are likely to be close to $2.5 billion this year with over 70pc coming from exports."