The below USTR notice concerning the fiscal year 2020 reallocation of the TRQ for raw cane sugar was published in the February 7 Federal Register.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced a reallocation of 78,071 metric tons, raw value, of the raw sugar tariff rate quota. The reallocation reduces quotas for “those countries that stated they do not plan to fill their FY 2020 allocated raw cane sugar quantities.” The largest recipients of additional quota are the Dominican Republic with 16,397 MTRV and Brazil with 13,509 MTRV.
The reallocation equates to 86,059 short tons, raw value. One cannot necessarily assume a one-for-one addition to ending stocks, but if all the reallocated amounts entered, ending stocks in the January WASDE would be 1.642 million STRV or 13.4 percent, which could explain how the reallocated quantity was chosen. That is difficult to say at the moment, though, since USTR’s notice does not list the countries that lost quota, only those that gained. Presumably we will see the list of donors not later than the next FAS monthly sugar import report.