Sugar Backgrounder

Stephen Haley and Mir Ali

No 404146, Miscellaneous Publications from United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service

Abstract: The sugar title in the 2007 Farm Bill will determine how U.S. sugar policy is to be conducted. Currently, the U.S. sugar program uses domestic marketing allotments, price supports, and tariff-rate quotas to influence the amount of sugar available to the U.S. market. The program’s effect has been to support U.S. prices of sugar at levels above world market levels. U.S. sugar users maintain that keeping U.S. sugar prices higher than world levels has made U.S. sugar manufacturers increasingly uncompetitive in domestic and export markets and that a new approach to sugar policy is needed. Also, the U.S. sugar program’s effectiveness will be challenged in 2008 when all sweetener trade restrictions with Mexico are removed as part of the North American Free Trade Agreement. This report on the U.S. sugar sector places into context the challenges facing sugar producers, users, and policymakers in the United States, including description and analysis of farm-level production of U.S. sugar crops, cane and beet sugar processing and refining industries, imports and exports of sugar, sugar consumption, and U.S. sugar policy issues likely to be important in the 2007 Farm Bill.

Keywords: Agricultural and Food Policy; Crop Production/Industries; Demand and Price Analysis; Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety; International Relations/Trade; Marketing; Production Economics; Productivity Analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 59
Date: 2007-07
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:uersmp:404146

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.404146

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