In a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack dated Aug. 17, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) called for changes to the U.S. sugar policy in order to improve domestic sugar supplies and help bring down the cost of food and beverage products for U.S. consumers.
Sen. Shaheen attributed the current sugar supply chain crisis, including a rise in refined sugar prices to as high as 68 cents per pound (compared to world refined sugar prices of about 23 cents per pound), to a U.S. sugar policy that “limits the number of available foreign trading partners from which sugar can be imported and restricts the levels of sugar they can import under annual quotas.” Domestic supply is further constrained through marketing allotments imposed by the Department of Agriculture, according to the letter, ensuring that “prices for sugar in the United States are consistently higher than world prices”.
The New Hampshire lawmaker recognizes that USDA cannot fully resolve these issues and that Congress must address them in the next farm bill. In the meantime, she is urging the Biden administration to take the following actions to help ease the sugar supply chain crisis:
- making policy decisions more transparent by stating in advance what circumstances and parameters will cause USDA to increase sugar import quotas;
- working with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to regularize the reallocation of sugar import quota shares among countries, recognizing that many countries with U.S. quotas may no longer produce sugar;
- establishing policies on what constitutes “reasonable prices” as referenced in Additional U.S. Note 5 to Chapter 17 of the HTSUS and outlining policy responses when prices exceed this level;
- recognizing that increased sugar imports can now be allowed without risking loan forfeitures because price rules under the U.S.-Mexico sugar suspension agreements largely eliminate any danger of forfeitures under the sugar price support program; and
- committing to designing balanced sugar policies, giving due weight to the interests of sugar producers and processors but also recognizing the interests of other American businesses including cane refiners and sugar users.
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