Federal sugar programs cost taxpayers zero dollars in 2018Federal sugar programs cost taxpayers zero dollars in 2018

The federal sugar policy didn’t cost U.S. taxpayers anything last year, reports the American Sugar Alliance, an industry trade group representing sugarbeet and cane sugar growers and processors.

USDA predicts sugar policy will continue to operate at zero cost for the next 10 years, the alliance says.

U.S. sugar policy involves import restrictions and non-recourse loans that must repaid with interest, unless the prices fall below loan levels. Since 2004, the only year the sugar policy has cost taxpayers any money was 2013. That year, Mexico dumped subsidized sugar into the U.S. market, requiring the USDA to take action to keep the domestic sugar market from collapsing, the alliance says.

Food processors lobby Congress each year to open the U.S. market to unlimited amounts of foreign sugar. But they have access to an affordable supply of sugar, according to the alliance.

Its market analysis shows that U.S. food manufacturers pay 25% less for sugar than companies in other developed countries, and U.S. grocery shoppers pay 22% less than the rest of the developed world.

U.S. sugar policy remains a farm program success story, according to the alliance.

Source: American Sugar Alliance, which is solely responsible for the information provided and is wholly owned by the source. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset.