The US Agriculture Department said on Friday it set the sugar import quota for fiscal 2011 at 1.231 million short tons raw value, the minimum amount it is obliged to accept under World Trade Organisation commitments.
Last year, the USDA waited until September to announce its import program, but sugar users and producers had asked the department to make an earlier announcement this year to ensure imports were in place for the start of the fiscal year, which begins October 1, an official with the American Sugar Alliance said.
"There was some concern ... that things might get a little tight in the fall," said Jack Roney, director of economics and policy analysis with the sugar producers' group. The government balances imports and domestic marketings with usage so that it can guarantee a minimum price to growers at no cost to taxpayers.
Foodmakers have pressured the USDA to increase its imports during the past two years because of relatively high prices and tight world supplies. The USDA started off the FY2010 sugar program with the WTO-prescribed minimum levels of imports, but increased the sugar quota twice this year for a combined total of 500,000 short tons. Americans consume more than 10 million short tons of sugar a year. Imports usually account for a quarter of it.
"USDA will closely monitor stocks, consumption, imports, and all sugar market and program variables on an ongoing basis and appropriate adjustments will be made to sugar program parameters to ensure an adequate supply of sugar for the domestic market," the department said in a release.
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