Alabama

CONSUMER BENEFITS

• Like all Americans, Alabama consumers pay 22 percent less for sugar than consumers in other developed countries*.
  
• When sugar prices plunged by almost 20 percent during 1996 - 2004, injuring producers, industrial sugar users and retail grocers did not pass the savings onto consumers.
  
• Alabama consumers rely on strong Florida and Louisiana industries as their closest suppliers of this essential food ingredient.

TAXPAYER BENEFITS: The current U.S. sugar program is designed and intended to operate at no cost to American taxpayers.

JOBS: 2,177 jobs* in Alabama are a portion of the 372,228 jobs nationwide that rely on a strong U.S. sweetener industry.

ECONOMIC IMPACT: $370,400,000 of economic activity is generated in the state of Alabama each year by the U.S. sweetener industry*. As part of the national sweetener industry, Alabama is one of the 42 states that help to create $21.1 billion in economic activity.

CORN SWEETENER INDUSTRY: $1,600,000 is added to the value of the Alabama corn crop as a result of the corn sweetener industry*. About 760,000,000 bushels of corn nationwide are used each year for making sweetener. This represents over 8 percent of the U.S. corn crop.

EFFICIENT PRODUCERS: More than 100 countries produce sugar and American producers are among the most efficient. More than half of the world's sugar is produced at a higher cost than in the U.S.

A MAJOR IMPORTER: The U.S. is the fourth largest net importer of sugar in the world. The WTO and NAFTA trade agreements require the U.S. to import sugar from 41 countries, about 15 percent of our market, whether we need the foreign sugar or not.

RESPONDING TO PREDATORY FOREIGN TRADE PRACTICES: Virtually every sugar exporting country dumps its surplus onto the world market at prices below any country's cost of production. Until these unfair foreign trade practices are addressed we must maintain a domestic sugar policy that responds to these predatory practices.

U.S. SWEETENER POLICY BENEFITS AMERICA

* SOURCES: "RETAIL PRICES OF SUGAR AROUND THE WORLD IN 2002," LMC INTERNATIONAL LTD., February 2003.

"THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SUGAR AND CORN SWEETENER INDUSTRY TO THE U.S. ECONOMY," LMC INTERNATIONAL LTD., August 2001

USDA