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| Economy |
| Sugar Shortage Soon |
| 2009-08-09 |
| An alliance of sugar-using industries sent a letter earlier today to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack asking for an increase in the quotas imposed on imported sugar. The organizations signing the letter complain, quite reasonably, that domestic sugar stocks have fallen to historic lows and that a potential shortage would jeopardize production and jobs in their sectors. "According to USDA’s “World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates,” the United States will end the next fiscal year with less than 13 days’ worth of sugar on hand, unless imports are increased. If this forecast is accurate, our nation will virtually run out of sugar." The letter was signed by, among other organizations and companies, the American Bakers Association, the American Beverage Association, General Mills, Gonella Frozen Products, the Grocery Manufacturers Association, the Hershey Company, the Independent Bakers Association, the International Dairy Foods Association, Kraft Foods, Krispy Kreme, Mars, the National Confectioners Association, Nestle USA, and Pepperidge Farm. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #17 Maybe we should have quotas for cars. Too late, by a couple of decades. The Japanese got the warning when the UAW and Big Three pressured the Beltway for quotas in the wake of Americans discovering superior engineering and construction after the Arab Oil Embargo of the 70s. So they set up manufacturing in the US to get around that potential gambit. Now many a car with a Japanese label is not only made in the US, but with a high percent of parts also manufactured here while many models of Detroit brands have non-US assembly and high percentages of non-US parts. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-08-09 22:34 |
| #16 More Sugar!!!!! /Firesign Theater |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2009-08-09 20:29 |
| #15 So there's no actual shortage of sugar (worldwide) - just an oversupply of gummint regulation and largess with our money. As usual.... |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2009-08-09 19:29 |
| #14 Government interventions in markets are ALWAYS transfers. They leave one group better off, but ALWAYS leave another group worse off who pay for this idiocy via higher prices i.e. less left over for other GDP increasing activities. Once you understand comparative advantage you know that anything that interferes with it is harmful. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2009-08-09 18:25 |
| #13 All the sugar sold in the U.S. last year amounted to less than 6 billion dollars. Of the dozen businesses listed in the article Hershey alone is worth more than 8 billion with sales of over 5 billion a year. The U.S. sugar industry can go straight to zero and GDP would still increase. We must stop insane government regulations that favor one industry over all the others. Sugar quotas are reducing economic growth, fostering the growth of the biofuels industry in Brazil rather than here, forcing businesses to kowtow to DC mandarins, and if a shortage develops, will throw people out of work as factories run below their installed capacity. |
| Posted by: rammer 2009-08-09 17:17 |
| #12 Maybe we should have quotas for cars. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2009-08-09 16:14 |
| #11 If import quotas were abolished, would the US sugar industry survive? |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2009-08-09 15:59 |
| #10 Trade TP for Cuban sugar. |
| Posted by: Butthead 2009-08-09 15:02 |
| #9 Pffftt! I don't care! I eat my chocolate unsweetened! Do you eat bread? (All kinds) sugar is needed there. In fact all kinds of pastry as well as many kinds of booze, such as Beer use sugar to ferment. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2009-08-09 14:50 |
| #8 Here we have productive American businesses going hat in hand to Washington to beg for an increase in QUOTAS. Wake up America! We need new signs for the tea parties to eliminate the quotas. Sugar, it's not just for breakfast anymore! Get government out of my sugar bowl! Live sweet or Die! |
| Posted by: rammer 2009-08-09 14:30 |
| #7 So will the replacements for the Hunt Bros. try to corner the market again? snark/ It worked so well last time /snark.. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2009-08-09 13:54 |
| #6 It may also have to do with flooding in the sugar beet fields in the Dakotas. They've been having really awful weather the last two years. Eldest Son and I Amtraked west last month, and a lot of fields had pathetically short corn stalks and many fields that had obviously been underwater for long periods of time. A North Dakota resident on the train told us that they, like Wisconsin and other places, have had way too much cool weather as well. |
| Posted by: mom 2009-08-09 12:40 |
| #5 Could the shortage have something to do with this? |
| Posted by: Galactic Coordinator Thase6304 2009-08-09 08:32 |
| #4 Pffftt! I don't care! I eat my chocolate unsweetened! |
| Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 2009-08-09 05:22 |
| #3 Sugar Shortage Soon Say that ten times real fast... |
| Posted by: badanov 2009-08-09 00:52 |
| #2 But...but...this is good, right? I mean, wasn't there supposed to be some goofy tax on soda and other sweetened beverages coming down the pike? (Note...I don't agree with that, mainly because I'm not in the Obama-friendly urban hipster pinhead demographic. But I can see them spinning it that way.) |
| Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie 2009-08-09 00:28 |
| #1 No blood for sugar! |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2009-08-09 00:14 |