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U.S. Sugar Production
U.S. and World Sugar Prices
High-Fructose Corn Syrup Production
and Prices
U.S. Sweetener Deliveries
U.S. Sugar Production
The United States is among the world's largest sugar
producers. Unlike most other producing countries, the
United States has both large and well-developed sugarcane
and sugar beet industries. Since the mid-1990s, sugarcane
has accounted for about 45 percent of the total sugar
produced domestically, and sugar beets for about 55 percent
of production. U.S. sugar production expanded from an
early 1980s' average of 6.0 million short tons, raw value
(STRV) to an average 8.1 million STRV in the 2000s. The
production increases are due to a substantial investment
in new processing equipment, the adoption of new technologies,
the use of improved crop varieties, and acreage expansion
(because of higher prices for sugar relative to alternative
crops).
Sugarcane and sugar beet yields can
vary widely from year to year due to weather, but both
have tended to grow over time. The growth of sugarcane
yields has been particularly impressive in Florida and
Louisiana due to varietal improvements, investments in
improved harvesting technologies, and other technological
changes. Sugar beet yields have ranged from a low of 18.6
short tons per acre in fiscal year (FY) 1993 to an average
of 26 tons per acre in FYs 2007-09.
The number of farms growing sugarcane
and sugar beets declined from 2002 to 2007, but the average
area harvested per farm increased. According
to the 2007 Census of Agriculture, the number of farms
growing sugar beets and sugarcane decreased from 5,980
in 2002 to 4,714 in 2007. The number of farms growing
sugar beets declined from 5,027 to 4,022, while average
area harvested per farm rose from 272 to 312 acres. The
number of sugarcane farms dropped from 953 to 692, while
average area harvested grew from 1,027 to 1,224 acres
per farm. (See 2007 Census maps, Sugarbeets
for Sugar, Harvested Acres and Sugarcane
for Sugar, Harvested Acres.)
Sugarcane production. Sugarcane is one
of the essential raw material sources of manufactured
sugar in the United States. Sugarcane, a tall perennial
grass, is grown in tropical and semitropical climates.
After the planting of cane stalk cuttings, the plant matures
in 1-2 years. Two to four crops are harvested from the
original plantings, unless the plants are impaired or
destroyed by frost, disease, or other causes. Once harvested,
sugarcane must be processed quickly before its sucrose
deteriorates.
In the United States, sugarcane is produced in Florida,
Louisiana, Hawaii, and Texas. Acreage of sugarcane for
sugar rose from an average 704,000 acres in the first
half of the 1980s to 898,000 acres in the 2000s. Over
the same period, sugar produced from sugarcane grew from
2.910 million STRV to 3.609 million STRV.
Florida's sugarcane production has expanded significantly
since the United States ceased importing sugar from Cuba
in 1960. Florida is the largest cane-producing region
in the United States. Most of the sugarcane is produced
in organic soils along the southern and southeastern shore
of Lake Okeechobee in Southern Florida, where the growing
season is long and winters are generally warm. Florida
has produced an average 1.80 million STRV of sugar in
the 2000s.
In Louisiana, the northernmost cane-growing State, sugarcane
production has been largely confined to the Delta, where
soils are fertile and the climate is warm. However, the
sugar industry in Louisiana has expanded northward and
westward into nontraditional sugarcane growing areas.
Most of the expansion in sugarcane acreage in recent years
has occurred as returns for competing crops, such as rice
and soybeans, have decreased. Louisiana production has
also expanded due to the adoption of high—yielding
sugarcane varieties, along with investments in new harvesting
combines. Louisiana has produced an average 1.38 million
STRV of sugar in the 2000s.
Texas sugarcane is produced in the lower Rio Grande Valley
in the southern tip of the State. The area has a subtropical
climate—long, hot summers and short, mild winters.
Killing freezes are a recurrent threat, and hurricane
and drought have significantly reduced production in some
years. Production of sugarcane in Texas resumed with the
1973 crop after years of inactivity. During the 1980s,
total harvested area averaged about 35,000 acres and varied
little. Sugarcane production averaged about 100,000 tons
per year for the same period, but varied from year to
year due to changes in yields. FY 2001 saw a 50-percent
expansion in sugarcane acreage from the previous year.
Area harvested has averaged about 42,000 acres in the
2000s and sugar produced has averaged 174,000 STRV.
Hawaii's sugarcane production until recently was spread
across the islands of Hawaii, Kauai, Maui, and Oahu, but
closures of processing plants and competing uses for sugar
land have reduced sugar production to two mills on Maui
and Kauai. Sugarcane area harvested in Hawaii has decreased
from close to 100,000 acres in FY 1981 to an average 20,700
acres in the 2000s. The State’s sugar production
has declined from over 1.0 million tons in the first half
of the 1980s to 238,000 tons in the 2000s.
Sugar beet production. Sugar beets are
the other leading raw material for manufactured sugar
in the United States. Sugar beets, a sturdy crop grown
in a wide variety of temperate climatic conditions, are
planted annually. Sugar beets can be stored for a short
while after harvest, but must soon be processed before
sucrose deterioration occurs. A recent development has
been the introduction of genetically modified (GM) seed
varieties. In the 2009/10 crop year, GM varieties accounted
for about 95 percent of planted area, up from about 60
percent in 2008/09.
Sugar beets basically are grown in five regions encompassing
11 States, and tend to be grown in rotation with other
crops. Two of the regions are east of the Mississippi
River, while the three other areas are in the Great Plains
and Far West. The western regions represent dryland farming
that is dependent on irrigation as a primary source of
water. The eastern regions depend on rainfall. Historically,
sugar beet yields in the western areas have tended to
be higher than in the east. However, with the adoption
of new disease-resistant and GM seed varieties, yields
in the eastern areas are much closer to those in western
areas. In all areas, sugar production is enhanced by technologies
that allow the desugaring of molasses that otherwise would
be a relatively low-value byproduct.
The largest and most dynamic region for sugar beet production
is in or close to the Red River Valley of western Minnesota
and eastern North Dakota. Area planted in the Red River
region has been growing consistently through the 1990s
and has averaged 731,000 acres in the 2000s, or about
55 percent of total planted U.S. sugar beet acreage. Long,
cold winters aid the storage of sugar beets harvested
in October and allow the slicing of sugar beets well into
the following spring, thereby making more efficient use
of slicing capacity at the factories. A second area of
sugar beet production is in Michigan. Area planted in
this region in the 2000s has averaged 163,000 acres, or
about 12 percent of total U.S. acreage.
Sugar beet production occurs in the Upper Great Plains
(north central Wyoming, Montana, and western North Dakota)
and Central Grain Plains (southeastern Wyoming, Colorado,
and Nebraska). Area planted in the Great Plains has averaged
183,000 acres, or about 14 percent of national area planted.
Sugar beet production in the Northwest occurs in Idaho,
Washington State, and portions of Oregon. Area planted
for the 2000s has averaged about 202,000 acres, or about
15 percent of total area. California comprises the Far
Western region with an average area planted of only 25,000
acres in recent years. Area planted in the Far Western
region has contracted from about 100,000 acres in the
2000 crop year to about a quarter of that total in following
years due to the closure of three out of four processing
plants in California.
Annual cash receipts. Cash
receipts for U.S. sugar growers vary with sugar yields
and prices. Cash receipts for sugar beets were $1.507
billion in the 2006/07 crop year and $1.335 billion in
the 2007/08 crop year. Sugarcane cash receipts were $849
million in the 2006/07 crop year and $837 million in the
2007/08 crop year. On average, the sugar crops account
for 1 percent of the cash receipts received by U.S. farmers
for all agricultural commodities.
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U.S. and World Sugar Prices
The two key sugar prices in the United States are the
raw cane sugar price and the refined beet sugar price.
The raw cane sugar price is based on the price of sugar
delivered to New York and is quoted at the New York Board
of Trade as the Sugar Number 16 (domestic) Contract. There
is no futures market for U.S. refined sugar, but a price
range for wholesale Midwest refined beet sugar, f.o.b.
(free on board) factory, is quoted each week in Milling
and Baking News. During the 2000s, the raw sugar
price has ranged between a low average of 19.09 cents
a pound in 2000 and a high average of 22.14 cents a pound
in 2006. The wholesale beet price has likewise ranged
from an average of 20.80 cents a pound in 2000 to an average
of 33.10 cents a pound in 2006.
U.S. sugar prices have been well above world prices since
1982 because the U.S. Government supports domestic sugar
prices through loans to sugar processors and a marketing
allotment program. (For further discussion, see the Policy
chapter). The raw cane sugar price, which is based on
a bulk spot price for sugar stowed in Caribbean ports,
including Brazil, is quoted at the New York Board of Trade
as the Sugar Number 11 (world) Contract. The raw cane
sugar price has averaged about 10.43 cents a pound during
the 2000s.
A world refined sugar price, the Number 5 Contract on
the London International Financial Futures and Options
Exchange, is based on the London daily spot market price
for refined sugar f.o.b. ship in European ports. The refined
beet sugar price has averaged about 12.71 cents a pound
during the 2000s.
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High-Fructose Corn Syrup Production
and Prices
High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is one of several products—along
with glucose, dextrose, corn starch, ethanol, and other
products—derived from the wet milling of corn. U.S.
corn refiners produce high fructose corn syrup by first
converting corn starch to a syrup that is nearly all dextrose.
Enzymes isomerize the dextrose to produce a 42-percent
fructose syrup called HFCS-42. By passing HFCS-42 through
an ion-exchange column that retains fructose, corn refiners
draw off 90-percent HFCS and blend it with HFCS-42 to
make a third syrup, HFCS-55.
Demand for HFCS is driven by demand for products that
use the syrups as inputs. For HFCS-55, the major use is
in the beverage industry, which demands over 90 percent
of total domestic deliveries. Major food users of HFCS-42
include the beverage industry (41 percent), processed
food manufacturers (22 percent), cereal and bakery producers
(14 percent), multiple-use food manufacturers (12 percent),
the dairy industry (9 percent), and the confectionery
industry (1 percent). Growth in these sectors has typically
accounted for growing sales of HFCS-55 and HFCS-42. Supersweet
HFCS-90 is used in natural and "light" foods
where very little is needed to provide sweetness.
Domestic production of HFCS increased
from 2.2 million short tons in 1980 to an average of 9.2
million tons, dry weight, during the 2000s as HFCS replaced
more expensively priced sugar in a variety of uses. In
1997, corn used to produce HFCS broke through the 500-million
bushel level. It is estimated that, in the 2000s, about
511 million bushels of corn, or about 4.7 percent of the
total U.S. corn crop, has been be used to produce HFCS.
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U.S. Sweetener Deliveries
Deliveries of sugar and other sweeteners have averaged
about 21 million tons during the 2000s. Other sweetener
deliveries include corn sweeteners (high fructose corn
syrup, glucose syrup, and dextrose), honey, maple syrup,
and other edible syrups but exclude the deliveries of
noncaloric sweeteners.
Per capita deliveries of caloric sweeteners increased
by 32 pounds, or 27 percent, from 1970 to 151.4 pounds
in 1999. Since 1999, per capita sweetener deliveries have
decreased by 14.3 pounds to 137.1 pounds in 2008. Sugar
and sweeteners have maintained a 36- to 40-percent share
of the steadily growing U.S. per capita consumption of
carbohydrates.
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