SUA Commends Senator Shaheen for Urging USDA and USTR to Heed GAO Recommendations

Press Releases

Washington, D.C. (December 21, 2023) – The Sweetener Users Association (SUA) today commended Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies, for her letter urging Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to swiftly implement Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommendations for sugar program reform. …

The Christian Science Monitor: Pricey holiday sweets? Why sugar outpaces grocery inflation.

In the News

With five trucks and a tractor to his left and a sea of leafy green before him, Dean Haubenstricker lines up his harvester and starts it forward. The high-tech machine digs up brown sugar beets, lops off their tops, and conveys them to an onboard storage bin.

Mr. Haubenstricker’s son Josh arrives alongside with the tractor and a trailer, allowing his father to discharge his beets even as he continues to harvest, and then shuttles them to a waiting truck, which whisks them off to storage. It’s as elegant and efficient a harvest as one will see in American industrial agriculture. …

Bloomberg: America’s Sugar Shortfall Leaves Candy-Makers Scrounging

In the News

Bonbons and candy canes may dominate the American holiday aesthetic, but US confectionery companies are feeling anything but jolly as they head into one of the sugar market’s tightest years in recent memory.

Prolonged droughts in major cane-producers Mexico and Louisiana have helped push US sugar futures to the highest ever for this time of year and forced users to turn to high-cost imports instead. Sweets-makers paying up to snag supplies are choosing to protect their margins by raising prices for consumers — and hoping shoppers don’t balk at the mark-up. …

GAO Finds Special Protections in U.S. Sugar Program Come at Expense of Consumers, Has Led to U.S. Job Loss

Press Releases

Washington, D.C. (November 1, 2023) – In a new report published yesterday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) confirmed the financial burdens imposed by the sugar program on U.S. consumers and the economy. The Sweetener Users Association (SUA) pointed to the findings of “Sugar Program: Alternative Methods for Implementing Import Restrictions Could Increase Effectiveness” as further evidence of the urgent need for U.S. sugar policy reform in the 2023 farm bill. …

Portland Press Herald: Commentary: Finding ‘the sweet spot’ for the U.S. sugar program

In the News

Over the years, our nation’s confectioners have adopted new innovations and technological advancements to optimize our operations and maintain affordable prices for our customers. But the U.S. sugar program is failing to keep pace with the needs of the larger farm and food economy, especially American food manufacturers, which today are paying two to three times more for sugar than their foreign competitors.

The problem is that we don’t produce enough sugar in America for all the manufacturers who need it. Limited planted acreage, adverse weather events and supply chain snags can leave food makers without access to a domestic source of sugar. …

The Washington Post: How U.S. sugar protectionism could sour your Halloween and Christmas

In the News

Carl Sandburg’s hog butcher, wheat stacker, city of the big shoulders — was once America’s candy capital, catering to the nation’s sweet tooth. Today it is less so because the federal government interferes with candy’s most important ingredient.

With Halloween on the horizon and Christmas close behind, sugar import quotas might produce shortages of candy corn and candy canes. Herewith another story of industrial policy gone sour. …