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Sweetener Users Urge Congress to Include Sugar Reform in Farm Bill The Sweetener Users Association (SUA) continued its push for sugar reform in the 2007 Farm Bill last week, urging members of the U.S. House and Senate Agriculture Committees to create a domestic sugar program that will be more flexible, more market-oriented and more compatible with the country's growing global trade obligations. IDFA, a member of SUA, agrees that the current sugar policy isn't working and needs to be fixed."The U.S. sugar program attempts to rigidly manage supplies through marketing allotments and import quotas, but this approach is becoming increasingly unworkable and incompatible with the nation's foreign trade obligations," said Clay Hough, IDFA senior vice president. "The Farm Bill presents a perfect opportunity for reform." The dairy industry is greatly affected by U.S. sugar policy. In 2006, the dairy industry used approximately 1.1 billion pounds of sugar, representing 12% of the total amount of cane and beet sugar used for industrial food processing in the United States. IDFA's efforts to bring about reform are intended to help manufacturers of ice cream, yogurt and other sweetened dairy foods. In its letter to committee members, SUA offers several recommendations for reform, starting with eliminating marketing allotments, which the federal government uses in an attempt to manage sugar supplies. SUA believes this approach may no longer be tenable, especially with the expiration of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) next January. Once the North American market is fully integrated, the United States will no longer be able to control imports from Mexico. This change will put American sugar producers at a disadvantage, SUA warns, unless domestic policy becomes less rigid and more market oriented. The letter also suggests establishing loan rates for sugar, continuing to make price support loans and improving the tariff rate quota system for imports. To read the letter, click here. For more information, contact Helen Medina, manager of international affairs, at hmedina@idfa.org or 202-202-3507.
Posted May 21, 2007
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