Montana

CONSUMER BENEFITS:

• Like all Americans, consumers in Montana pay 22 percent less for sugar than consumers in other developed countries*.
• Sugar prices have plunged by almost 20 percent during 1996 - 2004, injuring producers, industrial sugar users and retail grocers have not passed the savings onto consumers.
• Montana 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 taxpayer

JOBS: 3,285 jobs* in Montana are a portion of the 372,228 jobs nationwide that rely on a strong U.S. sweetener industry

ECONOMIC IMPACT: $188,500,000 of economic activity is generated in the state of Montana each year by the U.S. sugar and corn sweetener industries*. As part of the national sweetener industry, Montana is one of the 42 states that help create $21.1 billion in economic activity

SUGARBEET INDUSTRY: More than 250 Montana farmers produce 31,000 acres and 823,000 tons of sugarbeets (2008). Sugarbeets are processed at two facilities: Billings, owned by Western Sugar Cooperative, and Sidney, owned by Sidney Sugars. Farmers have completed their purchase of Western Sugar in order to maintain their industry.

CORN SWEETENER INDUSTRY: $300,000 is added to the value of the corn crop for Montana's corn farmers as a result of the corn refining industry*. The added demand for corn benefits each of the 222 farms that raise 18,000 acres of corn in Montana. 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