For Immediate Release:February 14, 2006
Contact:Matt
Englehart (202) 482-3809
VALENTINE'S DAY SWEETNESS COMES AT A PRICE FOR U.S.
INDUSTRY
Valentine's Day sweetness comes at a price for an industry that employs
nearly 1 million Americans. The Commerce Department today reported that
more than 10,000 jobs were lost between 1997 and 2002 at sugar-consuming
companies, such as confectioneries. The study suggests high sugar costs
are a major factor in U.S. companies' decisions to relocate to other countries.
"We are seeing U.S. jobs move to countries that don't have the competitive
disadvantage of high sugar prices that we face in the United States,"
said Under Secretary for U.S. Trade Franklin L. Lavin. "To compete
and win in the world economy, we must lift the price burden for U.S. businesses
that use sugar as a product ingredient."
Findings in the study include:
- For every sugar growing and harvesting job saved through high U.S.
sugar prices, approximately three confectionery-manufacturing jobs are
lost.
- For the confectionery industry in particular, evidence suggests that
high U.S. sugar costs are a major factor in relocation decisions. In
2004, the price of U.S. refined sugar was 23.5 cents per pound compared
to the world price at 10.9 cents.
- Many U.S. sugar-containing products manufacturers have closed or relocated
to locations where sugar prices are less than half of the U.S. price.
The House report accompanying the Commerce Department's fiscal year 2005
appropriations bill directed the Secretary of Commerce to conduct a study
on the relationship between jobs and the differential between the U.S.
price and world price of sugar. The full text of the Employment Changes
in U.S. Food Manufacturing: The Impact of Sugar Prices can be found at
http://ita.doc.gov/media/Publications/pdf/sugar06.pdf.
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