A brief general picture of areas of current interest in the field of sugar metabolism and compartmentation in higher plants is presented. The control of partitioning of carbohydrate between sucrose and starch in leaves (source), the breakdown and utilisation of sucrose in sinks, and the storage of sugars and starch in sinks is described. Pathways of sucrose transport (excluding plasmalemma transport), control of sugar metabolism by fructose 2,6-bisphosphate, the role and source of inorganic pyrophosphate in sugar metabolism and the transport of carbon across the amyloplast envelope receive special attention.