| WASHINGTON -- A court date set for 10 a.m. EST Feb. 9 in
Federal Circuit Court in Washington D.C. is the time and place for an
important appeal. A favorable ruling will result in eliminating some
excess sugar from the domestic market.
Sugar beet and cane producers want to plug a loophole in an import law
from Canada to the United States. According to American Sugar beet
Association vice president Luther Markwart, about 120,000 tons of extra
sugar flowed into the U.S. last year.
The product -- called "stuffed molasses" -- is made by adding
molasses to processed sugar in order to get it over the border and then
spinning it out again, and then selling that sugar mostly as coating for
cereal.
Officials for the U.S. sugar industry see the process as a way to
circumvent the import quota agreed upon between the two countries.
Heartland By-Products, Inc, which receives the product in Taylor,
Mich., is a subsidiary of a London-based commodities giant, called ED
& F Man Group, which employs 3700 people in 60 countries. The sugar is
thought to be from Brazil.
"Imports of stuffed molasses is dampening the demand for
domestically produced sugar," said Peter Buzzanell at the annual
sugar beet school held in Twin Falls Jan. 11. Buzzanell, formerly with the
USDA as an economist in Washington, D.C., now does private consulting.
For the 2000-01 year, The total supply for the U.S. market stands at
12,463,000 short tons, according to USDA statistics. U.S. production for
the same time period is at 8,446,000 short tons, with total use estimated
at 10,560,000 short tons.
Local Idaho Sugar Beet Association member, Lonn Thaete, who plans to go
to Washington, D.C., in June with other local growers to lobby for the
sugar industry, said everyone is keeping their fingers crossed.
"It looks like a strong case," he said.
But if the case comes down once and for all time against sugar
producers, they will turn to Congress for legislation as a remedy. |