date:Jan 28, 2013
gar-beet harvests expanded almost twice as fast as demand in the past four years, and the cane crop is the biggest since 2004.
Foodmakers that didn't import sugar before 2002 now get about 33 percent of supply from overseas after a free-trade agreement spurred a surge from Mexico. That's reduced the premium paid for domestic sugar to 3.2 cents a pound relative to world prices, from 10.5 cents a year ago. The decline is reducing profits for farmers and widening margins for foodmakers.
While com