| WASHINGTON, April 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Members of the House
Agriculture Committee got documented evidence today of how
devastatingly lower sugar prices for farmers have not been
passed on to consumers by the big food manufacturers, candy
makers, grocers, and others.
Ray VanDriessche, a farmer from Bay City, Michigan, and
president of the American Sugarbeet Growers Association,
testified before the committee, as it begins deliberation on
the 2002 Farm Bill. VanDriessche presented a chart and graph
in his written testimony that gave dramatic figures on loss of
income by farmers as prices plummeted, while big commercial
sugar users continued to raise their prices to consumers.
Citing figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
VanDriessche related that projected total cane refiner and
beet processor losses from lower wholesale prices amounted to
$3.66 billion since 1996.
None of the savings of the lower wholesale sugar prices has
been passed along to consumers, he noted. Because grocers have
raised retail prices for sugar and food manufacturers have
raised retail prices for sugar-containing products, consumers
have lost $1.65 billion during this period, he told the
lawmakers.
The bottom line, VanDriessche said, is that grocery and
food manufacturers, coupling the lower wholesale price they
have paid and the higher prices they have charged consumers,
have added a whopping $5.31 billion to their profit picture.
VanDriessche said, ``While wholesale refined sugar prices
during 1997-2001 have averaged nearly 4 cents per pound less
than in 1996, grocers have charged an average of almost 2
cents per pound more for refined sugar during this same
period. At the same time, food manufacturers have boosted the
prices they charge for highly sweetened products, such as
candy, cereal, ice cream and baked goods, by from 4 to 14
percent.''
VanDriessche also noted that, to add insult to injury, it
is these same big grocers and commercial users of sugar that
want to eliminate the last vestiges of a safety net U.S.
farmers have under sugar policy. |