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WASHINGTON, March 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Sugarbeet farmers like
Everett Gabel of Montana are happy to celebrate St. Patrick's Day
today, but they are not feeling much of the luck of the Irish. And
neither are American sugar consumers.
``The price we receive for our refined beet sugar has dropped
nearly a fourth just since last summer,'' said Gabel, who farms
240 acres of sugarbeets near Billings. ``Prices this low are a
terrible financial blow to me and my family. It would be some
consolation to us if this low producer price meant lower sugar and
sweetened product prices at the grocery store, but it does not.''
Through February, producer prices for both raw cane and refined
beet sugar have fallen 23% in the past 3-1/2 years, since the
start of the 1996 Farm Bill, but grocery store prices for sugar
have not dropped at all. Retail refined sugar prices are the same
as in October 1996, and prices for highly sweetened products such
as cereal, cookies and cakes, candy, and ice cream have risen by
6-10 percent, according to government statistics released today.
``If these low producer prices persist, my livelihood, my
neighbors', and the livelihoods of sugar growers, processors, and
workers in 16 states are all threatened,'' Gabel said. Sugarbeets
are grown in 12 states and sugarcane in four.
``What galls me is that the food manufacturers and retailers
who have lobbied in Washington for these lower prices are now
increasing their profits at our expense,'' Gabel said. ``It's
clear these corporations are passing none of their savings on
cheaper sugar along to consumers. Not in the price of a bag of
sugar on the grocery store shelf. Not in the price of a box of
cereal or a bag of cookies. Not in the price of a candy bar or a
container of ice cream.''
``And these same companies argued in Washington that lower
producer prices for sugar would benefit consumers,'' added Pamela
Gabel, Everett's wife. ``What a bunch of blarney.''
``The food manufacturers and retailers may be dancing a jig all
the way to bank this week, with their increased profits at
farmers' expense, but we're not,'' she said. ``We're fighting to
survive terribly low prices for sugarbeets and all the other crops
we grow.''
The Gabels are members of the American Sugarbeet Growers
Association (ASGA), representing 12,000 farmers in 12 states. The
ASGA, based in Washington, D.C, participates in the American Sugar
Alliance, a national coalition of farmers, processors, and
refiners of sugarbeets, sugarcane, and corn for sweetener. (For
more information about the American Sugar Alliance, visit www.sugaralliance.org). |