The Washington Times
  • Subscribe
  • Times News Services
  • RSS
  • Mobile Headlines
  • e-edition
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • REGISTER
  • LOG IN
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • WELCOME
  • Your Profile
  • Log Out
  • Front Page Image
  • Classifieds
  • Autos
  • Real Estate
  • Jobs
  • Special Sections
  • Customer Service
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Sports
    • NFL
    • NBA/WNBA
    • MLB
    • NHL
    • Tennis
    • Golf
    • Motorsports
    • Soccer
    • NCAA
    • Olympics
    • Outdoors
    • Other
  • Culture
    • Home & Living
    • Family & Kids
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Washington Visitors
    • Books
    • Military History
    • Life
    • Auto
    • TV Listings
    • Movie Listings
    • Death Notices
    • Entertainment
  • Themes
  • Communities
  • Shopping
    • Stores
    • Coupons
    • Daily Double
    • Promotion
    • How It Works
  • Videos
    • Two Guys
    • Birnbaum on Washington
    • Liz Glover
    • Amanda Carpenter
    • Morning Briefing
    • Documentaries
    • Joe Giganti
    • Video Game Minute
  • Podcasts
    • About Headlines
    • Audio and Radio
    • America's Morning News
  • National

    PULLEN: GOP came unmoored in last decade – it hurt

  • National

    WILLIAMS: Finding gratitude in difficult times

  • Sports

    Leonsis in line to buy Wizards, Verizon Center

  • National

    3 airlines fined $175,000 for stranding passengers

  • National

    Ky. hanging, ruled a suicide, leaves bloggers at loss for words

  • Business

    Holiday puts low-cost buses into overtime

  • Politics

    A-listers, fundraisers attend White House state dinner

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Bittersweet

Rate this story

Average 0.00
after 0 votes
Login or register to rate this story

  • Font Size -+
  • Print
  • Email
  • Comment
  • Tweet this!
  • Share
  • Article
  • Comments ()
  • Click-2-Listen
  • Videos

More Stories

  • Obama expects support for more troops
  • D.C. sports icon, Wizards owner Pollin dead at 85
  • Leonsis in line to buy Wizards, Verizon Center
  • Medical pot gets social

By

Sugar has been a sweet business for U.S. cane growers and beet farmers, who are sheltered from foreign competition by regulations that severely restrict imports.

But American farmers and refiners in the sweetener industry think that system is being dismantled by the Bush administration, which is pushing a free-trade agreement that chips away at quotas, and attacked by a loose coalition in Congress and the food industry seeking cheaper imported sugar.

"I would say we feel particularly besieged right now," said Carolyn Cheney, vice president for government relations at the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida, a 55-farm group that plants 64,000 acres of sugar cane.

The Belle Glade, Fla., cooperative is part owner of three Domino Sugar Corp. refineries, including an 83-year-old plant in Baltimore's harbor, an industrial holdout amid encroaching condominiums, shops and offices.

About 54 million pounds of the cooperative's raw sugar -- cane that is processed but not refined for industrial or consumer use -- arrived at the Baltimore factory Monday, where it was unloaded from a barge into a storage shed in 7,000-pound scoops.

The bulky delivery is enough only to keep the factory's 450 employees on full shift for almost nine days. The company also relies on raw sugar from other U.S. growers and farmers in the Americas and Asia to operate steadily.

That foreign sugar is imported under strict quotas that allow 40 countries to sell raw cane sugar to U.S. refiners. The cap keeps raw sugar prices in the United States more than twice as high as world prices, the Agriculture Department said.

Under the proposed Central American Free Trade Agreement, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua eventually would be able to export 164,000 tons of sugar to the United States. That is less than 2 percent of domestic sugar production, but would represent a 34 percent increase in imports, according to a report by the American Farm Bureau.

The trade group supports CAFTA as a $1.4 billion export boon for U.S. ranchers and farmers, but acknowledges that sugar is an exception. The U.S. industry would lose about $80 million because of CAFTA, the bureau estimated.

"Thousands of sugar workers would lose jobs because of CAFTA," said Phillip Hayes, spokesman for the American Sugar Alliance, a trade group for growers, processors and refiners in an industry that directly employs 146,000.

12Next »

Post a comment

There are comments on this article, submit your opinion!

Commenting is disabled for this entry.
If you feel there is still something worth mentioning about this entry please contact the author or the site admin.

Ask a Question

You Report

Do you have another point of view, photos, audio, video or more information about a story?

Top Stories

Most Read

  1. EDITORIAL: Hiding evidence of global cooling
  2. Top Republican lawmakers not attending State Dinner
  3. Fenty trails Gray in D.C. poll
  4. Conservatives seek test for RNC funds
  5. Food snobs fork over $225 for taste of heritage turkey
More Top Stories »
  1. Religious leaders vow civil disobedience on anti-life issues
  2. Company that repaired Chairman Gray's house lacked license
  3. PRUDEN: Obama's due process doctrine
  4. KELLNER: New Apple mouse really is 'Magic'
  5. Green energy stimulus growing few jobs

Most Shared

  1. EDITORIAL: Hiding evidence of global cooling
  2. The United Socialist States of America
  3. PRUDEN: Obama's due process doctrine
  4. Fenty trails Gray in D.C. poll
  5. Top Republican lawmakers not attending State Dinner
More Top Stories »
  1. EDITORIAL: Terrorists use Democratic talking points
  2. Conservatives seek test for RNC funds
  3. EDITORIAL: Obama's sacked inspector general
  4. Food snobs fork over $225 for taste of heritage turkey
  5. Religious leaders vow civil disobedience on anti-life issues

Most Commented

  1. EDITORIAL: Hiding evidence of global cooling
  2. Top Republican lawmakers not attending State Dinner
  3. Conservatives seek test for RNC funds
  4. PRUDEN: Obama's due process doctrine
  5. Schumer: Dems will pass health bill alone
More Top Stories »
  1. EDITORIAL: Terrorists use Democratic talking points
  2. Lobbyists spending big to shape health care debate
  3. WH: Obama Afghan decision 'within days'
  4. Kennedy political dynasty in question
  5. The United Socialist States of America

Listen to Washington Times Radio

  • America's Morning News

    with John McCaslin and Melanie Morgan

Blogs & Columns

  • Hot Button Blog

    RNC: Breast cancer recommendations may lead to 'rationing'

  • Belief Blog

    Evangelicals OK civil disobedience

  • Out of Context

    Foods that might kill libido

  • On the Fly

    United lifts some 'award' blocking

  • Technology

    Facebook wins round against phishing spammer

  • Redskins 360

    Gray spends day in Memphis

  • SNOBlog

    Beyond 'Woody'

Videos

Advertising Links
TWT Store
  • e-edition
  • Print Edition
  • Weekly Washington Times
TWT Affiliates
  • Middle East Times
  • Golf
  • UPI
  • Arbor Ballroom
  • Washington Times Global
  • About TWT
  • Press Room
  • F.A.Q.
  • Work for TWT
  • Advertise
  • Sponsors
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site Map

All site contents © Copyright 2009 The Washington Times, LLC.