Key Take-Aways: International Sweetener Symposium

“Navigating a Turbulent American Sugar Market” was the theme of the International Sweetener Symposium hosted by the American Sugar Alliance held last week in Vail, CO.

Producers, buyers, traders and a lot of government officials gathered to hear and to be heard.

Many of the Key-Takeaways were aimed at actions to protect the domestic sugar market by limiting imports and maintaining consumer demand.

Both in and out of the meetings, conversations could be heard about raising Tier 2 tariff rates, stopping the flow of Canadian "molasses", supporting tariffs on Brazil sugar and limiting the impact of MAHA on sugar demand.

Make Brazilian Sugar Less Attractive

Producers believe that Brazil's enormous, low-cost sugar industry can set the world price and then put pressure on the U.S. market whenever world prices fall.

Just a couple of weeks before the meeting, the USTR imposed a 25% Section 301 tariff on certain Brazilian goods. USTR specifically cited Brazil's unfair trade practices, including preferential tariffs, ethanol-market-access issues and other practices.

Make All Tier 2 Sugar Less Attractive

But the producers want a longer-term solution. They claim the problem extends beyond Brazil and that the Tier 2 tariff is no longer high enough to keep subsidized/low-cost world sugar from entering the U.S. whenever global prices fall. The increase in world sugar entering the US in recent years fed their argument.

The proposal being pushed by U.S. sugar producers is to modernize/increase Tier 2, so that foreign sugar entering above the TRQ once again faces a genuinely prohibitive tariff.

The U.S. Tier 2 tariff on sugar is currently:

Raw sugar: 15.36¢/lb

Refined sugar: 16.21¢/lb

Those rates have been essentially unchanged since 2000. The producers argue that because they are fixed cents-per-pound tariffs rather than percentage tariffs, inflation has substantially eroded their protective effect.

Slowing Down the Import of “Molasses”

It is a known practice to mix raw sugar with molasses and water in Canada to produce a sugar-containing syrup that could be classified as something other than refined sugar. Once imported into the U.S., the molasses is removed, leaving refined liquid sugar. The U.S. government and sugar industry have previously characterized this as a way of bringing sugar into the U.S. outside the normal sugar quota system.

Canadian “molasses” containing substantial sugar is being viewed as a potential sugar-program circumvention problem, and not only does the US sugar industry want the flow to stop, but now the federal government is fully engaged to "finish the job" of closing the spigot completely.

Competing Voices

In the rest of the US sugar universe, there is a real policy split between sugar producers and sugar users.

The American Sugar Alliance is advocating for stronger protection and has formally asked USTR to address what it describes as unfair and discriminatory practices by sugar-producing countries.

But the Sweetener Users Association is pushing the other way. SUA argued that the increase in Tier 2 imports isn't primarily evidence of unfair trade; it is evidence that the U.S. doesn't provide enough TRQ access for users who need sugar. SUA specifically asked that sugar be exempted from the proposed Brazil Section 301 tariffs.

And Why Are Imports So Important?

U.S. production is already projected lower for 2026/27. USDA's May forecast was about 8.81 million STRV, down 429,000 tons (4.6%) from 2025/26—beet sugar down about 6% and cane sugar down about 3%.

And there were genuine weather concerns going into the Vail meeting with some level of drought reported in almost all growing areas.

The U.S. could be heading into a situation where domestic sugar production is falling at exactly the time the industry wants to prevent cheap foreign sugar from filling the gap.

The Pivot

Notably, there was no mention of forfeitures which was a hot topic at the International Sweetener Colloquium just six months ago.

MAHA: The “Enemy” at the Gate

If there is one thing that both the producers and sugar users can agree on is that MAHA has the potential to significantly impact US sugar consumption rates, especially if new regulations control food choices for government funded programs such as school lunch programs, and SNAP.  “Front of Package”, the definition of Ultra Processed Foods (UPF) and the risk/benefit of artificial and high-intensity natural sweeteners vs. sugar, continue to dominate the conversations. If the outcome of these debates is more clarity and transparency for the consumer based on good science, that would be a win.  But we can only hope.

Critical Link

CSC Sugar/Sugaright is a leading trader and refiner in the US, often filling the gap between domestic production and demand with imported sugar. The US sugar refining industry exists to protect US food manufacturers from sugar supply and cost risk during times of adverse weather and other supply disruptions. We are proud to be part of this critical food supply chain, and we support fair, data-driven and transparent government policies that recognize the unique needs of all of its stakeholders from the farmer to the consumer.