Imports accounted for around 45 percent of our nation's sugar needs. Today, we are importing little more than one million tons a year, and imports now account for around 10 percent of our needs. And herein lies the current problem. Historically, the Department supported the price of raw and refined sugar by controlling imports. It can no longer do so.
Imports are too small because domestic growers have overproduced.
The tail cannot wag the dog. As a result, today the sugar program is inneffective. The price of refined sugar is depressed. The Department has lost control of the situation, and it is largely of its own doing. It can no longer support the price of sugar, and as a result has to expose the taxpayer to considerable cost by acquiring unneeded sugar.