by Forum News Service
The deal is causing cautious optimism among sugar producers and criticism from sugar users.
American Sugar Association members last March filed cases asking the U.S. International Trade Commission and the Department of Commerce to study whether the Mexican sugar industry was unfairly subsidized, and to take action to stop its impact on the U.S. market. This agreement settles those cases.
After Mexican imports increased sharply in 2013, U.S. sugar prices fell below the loan levels and cooperatives and other processors forfeited sugar to the U.S. government. Plummeting prices cost sugar beet farmers in the Red River Valley of North Dakota hundreds of millions in payment reductions.
The agreement establishes minimum prices to prevent the suppression of U.S. prices — 26 cents per pound (dry weight, commercial value) for refined sugar and 22.25 cents per pound for other sugar.
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Source: The Dickinson Press
Posted by Jami Howell
