Sugar Prices Still High, USDA to Increase Imports

If you're one of the many confectioners and food manufacturers struggling with the high price of sugar in recent months, you're not alone.

As the Wall Street Journal says in its article on sugar prices, "tight supplies" have led to protests regarding costs, and in response the USDA will allow a small increase in sugar imports.

Unfortunately, it may be too small to do any good. Food manufacturers and the Sweeteners Users Association have called for an increase of 1 million tons to bring costs back down and ensure adequate supplies.

But the USDA is only set to approve another 300,000 tons, a decision that is likely to do little to quell complaints from confectioners and processors.

One group not complaining are U.S. sugar farmers, who been able to block the effort to increase imports beyond the 300,000 mark. There will be little competition for them in a market that heavily favors their crop.

Americans already pay more than other countries for sugar based on a restriction on imports that protects the sugar farming industry.

Thankfully, the U.S. government has agreed to ease some of the pressure by renegotiating the amount of sugar allowed to be imported by various countries, taking away rights from countries that don't export sugar anymore and giving them to big producers like Brazil.

This will add another 130,000 tons of sugar to this year's imports, and ease the burden a little more.