Source: USDA, 3/31/16

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) announced today that it does not expect to purchase sugar under the Feedstock Flexibility Program in the second quarter of 2016. The CCC is required to announce quarterly estimates of sugar to be purchased for the Feedstock Flexibility Program based on crop and consumption forecasts.

Federal law allows processors of sugar beets and domestically grown sugarcane to obtain loans from USDA with maturities of up to nine months when the sugarcane or sugar beet harvest begins. The loans provide interim financing so that commodities can be stored after harvest, when market prices are typically low, to be sold later, when price conditions are more favorable. Upon loan maturity, the sugar processor may repay the loan in full or forfeit the collateral (sugar) to USDA to satisfy the loan.

The Feedstock Flexibility Program was reauthorized by Congress in the 2014 Farm Bill as an option to avoid sugar forfeitures. USDA’s March 9, 2016, World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report (www.usda.gov/oce/commodity/wasde) projects that domestic fiscal year 2016 ending sugar stocks are unlikely to lead to forfeitures.                  

USDA closely monitors domestic sugar stocks, consumption, imports and other sugar market variables on an ongoing basis, and will continue to administer the sugar program as transparently as possible using the latest available data. The next quarterly estimate regarding the Feedstock Flexibility Program will occur prior to July 1, 2016.