As Americans stock up on groceries during the coronavirus outbreak, wholesale and commodity prices of common staples like wheat and flour, rice, eggs and orange juice have skyrocketed; the uptick in demand is putting pressure on American supply chains and squeezing margins at grocery stores. …
WASHINGTON — Eight senators in a Feb. 27 letter to Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to take action to ensure an adequate supply of refined sugar later in the year when shortages are expected.“As you know, adverse weather in the midwestern and southeastern U.S. significantly depressed the domestic sugar harvest in 2019,” the letter said. “As a result, U.S.D.A. projects cane and beet sugar production to decrease 8.5% and 10%, respectively, compared to the previous marketing year. Mexico also reported depleted sugarcane crops due to unfavorable weather conditions in key sugar-producing regions. This decline in North American raw sugar production threatens to disrupt supply chains and increase prices for U.S. consumers.”
The Agriculture Department plans to send $285 million to sugar beet processing cooperatives that lost money in 2018 and 2019 after some of the worst harvests because of snowstorms, rain and frost, Secretary Sonny Perdue announced today.The money is available under USDA’s $4.5 billion disaster aid fund authorized by Congress last year, known as the Wildfires and Hurricane Indemnity Program Plus. Signups begin March 23. …
Under the neon Domino Sugars sign in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, a century-old refinery steadily produces the crucial ingredient in American candy, soda and other foods. The already busy plant soon might need to burn even more calories. Unusually bad weather around the country ruined both U.S. sugar beet and sugar cane crops last year, leading government officials to seek an 80 percent increase in raw sugar imports from Mexico. …
SWEETENER USERS URGE CHANGES IN MEXICO AGREEMENT: U.S. food and beverage companies want the Commerce Department to lower key “reference” prices in a sugar trade agreement with Mexico and to revisit the definition of what is considered “refined sugar.” The Sweetener Users Association asked for the changes in comments filed last week with the department, after…
The Court of International Trade has issued a stay through Dec. 6 on its decision that a 2017 amended sugar agreement between the United States and Mexico is invalid because the Commerce Department did not release all communication about negotiations in the case. During this time the Commerce Department is taking comments on the suspension…
WASHINGTON — The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on June 24 announced the reallocation of 100,071 tonnes, raw value, of the World Trade Organization tariff rate quota for imported raw sugar for the current fiscal year. “Based on consultation with quota holders, U.S.T.R. has determined to reallocate 100,071 tonnes, raw value, of the original…
SWEETENER USERS PROTEST MEXICO TARIFFS: U.S. food and beverage manufacturers who rely on Mexico for nearly one-third of U.S. sugar imports also are among the many business groups protesting Trump’s new tariff plan. “American food and beverage companies will be made even less competitive — yet again — by misguided government policy,” the Sweetener Users Association…
The Sweetener Users Association, which represents industrial-scale users of sugar as an ingredient in food, said this week it is opposed to the tariffs that President Donald Trump has said he will impose on all Mexican goods coming into the United States on Monday if Mexico does not stop illegal immigration and drug movements into…
Congress last week quietly passed the farm bill, a vast collage of legislation affecting the agricultural economy of the United States. This law, which Congress updates every five years, undergoes constant revision. But a few things never change. Foremost among these are the elaborate protections and subsidies given to nation’s wealthy farmers of sugarcane and sugar…