WASHINGTON, June 21, 2011 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture today increased the fiscal year 2011 raw sugar tariff-rate quota (TRQ) by 120,000 short tons raw value (STRV).
The individual company allocations that reflect the change in the OAQ are below. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will announce country allocations for the TRQ increase separately.
FY 2011 Raw Sugar TRQ Increase
On August 5, 2010, USDA established the FY 2011 TRQ for raw cane sugar at 1,231,497 STRV (1,117,195 metric tons raw value, MTRV*), the minimum to which the United States is committed under the World Trade Organization (WTO) Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture.
On April 12, 2011, USDA increased the raw cane sugar TRQ by 325,000 STRV to a total of 1,556,497 STRV. Pursuant to Additional U.S. Note 5 to Chapter 17 of the U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) and Section 359k of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended, USDA today announced in the Federal Register an increase in the raw sugar TRQ of 120,000 STRV (108,862 MTRV), which brings the overall FY 2011 raw sugar TRQ to 1,676,497 STRV (1,520,892 MTRV). Raw sugar under this quota must be accompanied by a certificate of quota eligibility and may be entered under subheading 1701.11.10 of the HTS until September 30, 2011.
FY 2011 Reassignment of Sugar Marketing Allotments
USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) latest review of domestic demand indicated that the OAQ had to be increased to provide domestic processors with the minimum 85 percent domestic market share, as required by the 2008 farm bill. This increase helps some beet sugar processors, who had inadequate allocations, to market all their supplies. Thus, the beet sector allotment was increased by 89,542 STRV to 5,108,900 STRV and redistributed from beet processors with surplus allocation to those with deficit allocation to release all blocked beet sugar stocks for sale. No beet sector allotment is reassigned to imports at this time (see attached table).
The 2008 farm bill requires that any OAQ increase be implemented in fixed proportions between the beet and cane sectors. Thus, the OAQ increase resulted in a 75,208 STRV increase in the cane sugar allotment, which was distributed among the sugar cane states and processors. The resulting CCC estimate of a 600,000 STRV cane sugar allotment surplus must be reassigned to raw sugar imports. Here, 480,000 STRV is reassigned to Mexico raw sugar imports already anticipated, while 120,000 STRV is reassigned to the TRQ increase announced above.
All sugarcane states’ sugar marketing allotments are reduced, with the total cane sector allotment decreased from 3,890,892 STRV to 3,366,100 STRV. The new cane state allotments are: Florida, 1,464,666 STRV; Louisiana, 1,526,050 STRV; Texas, 147,138 STRV; and Hawaii, 228,246 STRV. The FY 2011 sugar marketing allotment program will allow all domestic supply to be marketed.
USDA will closely monitor stocks, consumption, imports, and all sugar market and program variables on an ongoing basis. Additional adjustments to import TRQs and domestic marketing allotments may be needed later in FY 2011 to ensure an adequate sugar supply for the domestic market to prevent market disruptions. Within the next few months USDA will announce the FY 2012 sugar tariff-rate quota, and whether the periods for entry of raw sugar under the FY 2011 and/or FY 2012 raw sugar TRQs will be extended.
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