Sugar remains in high demand because of its purpose and what it is used for. Sugar cane and sugar beets are crops that are refined sugar. These crops grow in many areas of the world. Sugar functions in a market economy that creates several factors that can cause shifts in supply and demand. Weather is a factor that can affect the supply of sugar. Sugar (sugar cane or beets) grown throughout the world, are subject to high temperatures, flooding, drought, and even insects and bugs. When sugar is lost in large amounts due to weather, the supply curve shifts to the left, quantity supplied drops, and prices increase. Causes for shifts in supply and demand for sugar are the variables that can shift the demand curve: income, prices of related goods, taste, expectations, and the number of buyers. Shifts in supply can be the supply increase, and the change that increases any quantity supplied at every price. This would cause the curve to shift to the right. Buyers that want to change the quantity and purchase at any price will shift the demand curve to the right. Buyers that want to lower the quantity and want to purchase at any price will shift the demand curve to the left. Federal tariffs on sugar increases the price, resulting in a decrease for the demand. Rising pressure on sugar prices drives the prices to double in the long term average. Production costs that are high and the ethanol grown are used in Brazil to set the platform for higher