| WASHINGTON (AP) -- Coming off one of their worst years ever,
sugar producers Thursday called for reductions in the amount
of imported sugar from Mexico and the elimination of stuffed
molasses imports from Canada that bypass sugar tariffs.
Last year, farmers destroyed 7 percent of the sugar crop
under a federal program intended to reduce a price-depressing
glut. More than a third of the sugar destroyed was in
Minnesota, where farmers plowed under 36, 370 acres.
American Crystal Sugar Co. growers said they plowed under
30, 000 acres to qualify for the federal program. In Wahpeton,
N.D., the Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative reported giving up
about 8, 000 acres.
" We can' t sustain low prices much longer, "
said Jack Roney, an economist for the American Sugar Alliance,
at a House Agriculture Committee hearing on Thursday. " I
believe we' re on the brink of losing significant beet and
cane producers."
Under a provision of the North American Free Trade
Agreement, imports of Mexican sugar rose nearly fivefold to
116, 000 metric tons in the fiscal year that began last
October, at a time when sugar prices were already reeling.
Mexico disputes even the higher limit, seeking unlimited
access to U.S. markets.
" The U.S. sugar market is oversupplied, financially
depressed and does not need an additional pound of Mexican
sugar, " said Ray VanDriessche, president of the American
Sugarbeet Growers Association. He called on the United States
to renegotiate those levels.
The American Sugar Alliance, an umbrella group of farmers,
processors and suppliers, also called for legislation that
would prohibit the importation of tariff-free stuffed molasses
-- molasses with sugar added -- coming from Canada. Once in
the United States, a sugary product is extracted from the
molasses and sold to manufacturers of cereal, hard candy and
dairy products such as ice cream.
The alliance says that roughly 125, 000 tons of sugar come
into the United States each year that way, helping to depress
U.S. sugar prices.
Farmers who destroyed their sugar crop last year took title
to some of the surplus sugar held by the government. That
sugar came from processors who earlier had forfeited more than
1 million tons instead of repaying federal price-support
loans. Processors are allowed to make such forfeitures when
domestic sugar prices fall below the loan' s value, as they
did last year.
That helped fuel calls, especially from wholesale
purchasers of sugar such as candy producers, that the program
should be scrapped.
But Rep. Gil Gutknecht, R-Minn., noted that the program has
avoided such taxpayer subsidies in the past.
" We have to do a better job of explaining what the
sugar program has meant over the last 20 years, not just last
year, " he said.
The United States is the world' s fourth-largest sugar
producer, behind Brazil, India and China, and the
fourth-largest sugar importer.
On the Net:
USDA' s Farm Service Agency: http://www.fsa.usda.gov
American Sugar Alliance: http://www.sugaralliance.org/ |