Freezing wet weather in the northern Plains has pummeled the sugarbeet crop and cut deeply into domestic sugar production. The USDA said it “fully intends to take appropriate actions to ensure an adequate supply of sugar,” meaning it will allow larger than usual imports of foreign-grown sugar.
In a statement on Friday, the USDA said it would make an announcement by Dec. 10 on the “quantity, type and source of additional sugar needed to ensure an adequate supply for the domestic market.” Imports usually account for one-fifth to one-quarter of the U.S. supply. Mexico is the largest source, providing one-third of imports, but drought is reducing its production, said a USDA sweetener bulletin.
Without action, the U.S. sugar supply would be severely pinched in coming months. The USDA estimated the inventory would stand at 1.3 million tons at the end of this fiscal year, compared to 1.8 million tons at the start. The United States regulates imports and marketing of domestic sugar in order to assure a minimum price to growers at no net cost to taxpayers.
“Production for 2019/20 has been hampered by cold, wet weather conditions in most of the key sugarbeet-producing regions during the harvest season. Through Nov. 3, the national sugarbeet harvest was only 70 percent complete — the slowest pace on record since 2000,” said USDA’s latest Sugar and Sweeteners Outlook report.
Growers are “contending with freezing temperatures and wet soil conditions, which can hinder growers’ ability to get in the field, harvest sugarbeet roots from the soil, and provide healthy, clean beets that can be stored and processed during the winter and spring slicing season. The likelihood of unusually high levels of sugarbeets being left unharvested has been increasing as winter conditions continue in those States,” said the monthly report.
Early this month, the USDA slashed its estimate of the sugarbeet crop by 12 percent. Sugarbeets provide 55 percent and sugarcane 45 percent of domestic sugar production, which runs about 9 million tons annually. Sugarcane production in Louisiana also is suffering this year.