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WASHINGTON
(Dow Jones)--Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., chairman of the U.S.
Senate Agriculture Committee, said Friday the U.S. Department
of Agriculture shouldn't make any additional surplus sugar
purchases aimed at raising prices.
"Another
payment-in-kind (purchase) program would repeat a
fundamentally flawed policy that is counter to the
market-oriented direction of American agriculture," Lugar
said in a written statement. "It is a bad deal for
consumers and sugar growers to prop up an industry to
overproduce sugar."
Massive
sugar supplies are still pressuring the market. Lugar fears
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman may be encouraged to
consider more government intervention. He also said last
year's government interventions didn't improve prospects for
the sugar sector.
"The
current federal sugar program is unacceptable. Another PIK
program isn't the answer. All segments of the sugar industry
should work together to develop an alternative to the market
intervention practices of last year," Lugar said.
Last
summer, the USDA purchased 132,000 tons of sugar worth $54
million to prop up slumping prices in the market.
In
September, sugar mills and processors forfeited 804,000 tons
of sugar held as collateral for government loans.
Finally,
in December, USDA announced that under its PIK program it had
given 275,000 tons of sugar to beet farmers who agreed to plow
under nearly 102,000 acres of sugar beets.
-By
Kim Archer, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-479-0853; Kim.Archer@dowjones.com
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Dow Jones Newswires 16-03-01 |