Wall Street Journal
Food Firms Warn of Sugar Shortage
Some of America's biggest food companies say the U.S. could "virtually run out of sugar" if the Obama administration doesn't ease import restrictions amid soaring prices for the key commodity.
In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack, the big brands -- including Kraft Foods Inc., General Mills Inc., Hershey Co. and Mars Inc. -- bluntly raised the prospect of a severe shortage of sugar used in chocolate bars, breakfast cereal, cookies, chewing gum and thousands of other products.
The companies threatened to jack up consumer prices and lay off workers if the Agriculture Department doesn't allow them to import ...
Update
Sugar is still proving to be the commodity of the year. With futures contracts now at 22 cents a pound, the sweet stuff is up 88% this year, to a 28-year high. Brazil, the world’s biggest sugar producer, is struggling with wet weather and diverting much of the crop yield to ethanol production. India, the world’s second biggest producer, is strapped with exceptionally dry weather. And just like that -- poof, supply shortages.
A coalition of U.S. food manufacturers has already begged the USDA to ease import quotas, saying in a letter that without such deregulation, “consumers will pay higher prices, food manufacturing jobs will be at risk and trading patterns will be distorted.”
“Sugar is certainly going to go much, much higher....