| WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- For the guy who
faithfully buys his sweetie a box of candy every Valentine's Day, he's
going to find out that -- once again -- candy prices have risen. In fact
they've risen more than 25 percent in the past decade.
While that's not out of line with inflation, our once-a-year Lothario
may question why, since the wholesale price of refined sugar, the
principal ingredient of that box of candy, has plummeted by over 30
percent during this same period.
Someone may tell him that, after all, there are other costs that go
into that box of candy. Granted, he reasons, but why then has the price of
a bag of sugar at the supermarket barely declined at all during those 10
years? It's down less than 1 percent, while the price the grocer is paying
farmers for the sugar has dropped by close to a third.
From 1990 to 2000, the consumer price for cereal, like candy, has risen
about 25 percent; ice cream is up almost 30 percent; cookies and cakes are
up close to 32 percent and other bakery products have climbed even more,
right at 37 percent. Those are figures from the U.S. Department of
Agriculture and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Meanwhile, back on the farm, America's sugar farmers, among the most
efficient in the world, have struggled against bankruptcy, brought on by
plunging commodity prices. The American Sugar Alliance (ASA), a trade
association for beet, cane and corn sweetener farmers and processors,
notes that declining prices have been brought on by a number of factors,
including trade agreements that force the U.S. to import 1.5 million tons
of sugar from 41 different countries whether we need the sugar or not.
Skyrocketing energy prices have also intensified the economic squeeze.
And meanwhile, away from the farm and back in Washington, ASA notes
that opponents of U.S. sugar policy -- candy makers, food manufacturers,
ice cream companies, those same ones who are bringing you higher prices --
wage a relentless legislative battle against America's sugar farmers to
try to squeeze even more profit out of the farmer, and the consumer.
In keeping with the romantic time of year, one sugarbeet farmer
quipped, ``And they don't even offer to kiss us.'' |