Michigan

CONSUMER BENEFITS:

• Like all Americans, Michigan 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.

• Michigan consumers rely on a strong beet sugar industry in their state to supply this essential food ingredient.

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

JOBS: 29,712 jobs* in Michigan are a portion of the 372,228 jobs nationwide that rely on a strong U.S. sweetener industry.

ECONOMIC IMPACT: $613,900,000 of economic activity is generated in the state of Michigan each year by the U.S. sugar and corn sweetener industries*. As part of the national sweetener industry, Michigan is one of the 42 states that help create $21.1 billion in economic activity.

SUGARBEET INDUSTRY: More than 850 farmers produce sugarbeets on more than 136,000 acres and 3.9 million tons of beets which are processed by four sugarbeet processing facilities in Bay City, Caro, Croswell, and Sebewaing. (2008) In 2004, farmers growing for the Michigan and Monitor Sugar Companies joined together to form the Michigan Sugar Company -- a grower owned cooperative-- in order to maintain their industry.

CORN SWEETENER INDUSTRY: $35,900,000 is added to the value of the Michigan corn crop as a result of the corn refining industry*. The added demand for corn benefits each of the 13,864 farms that raise 1.9 million acres of corn in Michigan. About 760,000,000 bushels of corn nationwide each year are used 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:  American Sugarbeet Growers, 2009.

"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.