Warm weather boosts Primark - Telegraph During the year to September 14, Primark will have expanded its selling space by almost 10pc, adding 800,000 sq ft to take its total to 9m sq ft. These openings, added to a 5pc rise in like-for-like sales, has driven the growth of the retailer. The retailer has also been selling clothes online through a trial with Asos, but this is expected to end in the next few weeks, prompting speculation that Primark could launch its own transactional website. John Bason, finance director of ABF, said: "The hot summer has meant that Primark has traded very well in the months of May, June, and July, and recovered from the cold months of March and April. I think Primark is getting fashion right, its stores look great, and the prices are the best on the high street. Mr Bason said that consumer sentiment is "improving" in the UK, with the pressure on disposable income easing. In a further boost to consumers, Mr Bason said that the improved summer weather means food commodity prices are set to fall. In the last few years, volatile weather conditions, including prolonged periods of rain in the UK and a drought in the US, has caused spikes in the price of commodities such as wheat and vegetable oil by damaging harvests. "For the first time in number of years we are not facing a sharp increase in food commodity prices," he stated. At the moment we arelooking at quite a benign environment, and if anything food prices are going down. However, although lower food prices should benefit consumers, it is a mixed blessing for ABF. Shares in the company fell by 2pc to £18.17 as investors expressed fears that lower sugar prices next year could weigh on the conglomerate's profits. ABF said that negotiations with European customers over sugar prices are "proving challenging" due to "the higher availability of sugar with the conversion of non-quota sugar to quota, additional tariff rate quotas for raw sugar imports and low world sugar prices." The European Council of Ministers confirmed in June that it will scrap sugar quotas for national production in 2017. This should open up the industry across the continent, although exports from outside the EU will still face tariffs. "The market is adjusting to the reality of 2017 earlier than expected," Mr Bason said. Maybe we shouldn't be surprised. Mr Bason said that ABF is "well placed" to expand across Europe after 2017 because it is a "well invested business and one of the world's lowest cost producers." Nonetheless, Martin Deboo, analyst at Investec, sad: "2013 is set to beat expectations on a strong finish from Primark, which remains robust. But in the other major profit centre of sugars the outlook in 2014 and beyond is downbeat, with EU sugar prices falling fast and further pricing pressures elsewhere in ABF's sugar empire. Commentary corroborates our intelligence that pricing in EU sugars is getting tough, with market prices for 2014 down by as much as €120 (£102) a tonne, relative to a reference base of mid to high €700s a tonne in 2013.