Sugar Shortage Threatens Candy Production Ahead of Halloween, Holiday Seasons

livemint.com:

Soaring prices and sugar shortages have makers of candy canes, peanut brittle and lollipops feeling sour. Tight sugar supplies are pushing up candy companies’ costs and, in some cases, cutting into production of sweets, executives said. Candy producers said the root of the problem lies with U.S.

agriculture policy requiring that at least 85% of U.S. sugar purchases come from domestic processors, leading to tight supplies and high prices when demand rises. Sugar farmers and processors say that policy ensures ample supplies and protects farmers’ livelihoods.

They said that U.S. sugar producers compete against subsidized sugar offered by foreign competitors at artificially low rates. In Bryan, Ohio, Spangler Candy makes around 250 million candy canes in a typical year.

In the past year, supplier cutbacks to available sugar disrupted the company’s supply chain, Spangler President Kirk Vashaw said. Spangler turned down Halloween candy orders it couldn’t fill, Vashaw said, and by June of last year, the company knew it wouldn’t be able to make up the production loss in time for Christmas. Spangler wound up producing about 200 million candy canes for the year.

“It is so much more expensive to manufacture candy in the United States, and sometimes we lose business because of it," Vashaw said. U.S. raw cane sugar prices climbed to 42.56 cents a pound in May, the highest since January 2011, according to the U.S.

Department of Agriculture. Midwestern refined beet sugar was up to 62 cents a pound in May. Refined beet sugar prices hit historically high levels in 2022, according to Rabobank, a major agricultural lender.