Sugar Acreage, Crop Should Be Records

May 22, 2000

Both the harvested acreage for beet and cane sugar this year and expected production should be records, according to USDA. Although winter conditions were less than ideal for storage, beets went into storage in good condition and remained that way through winter.

Beet sugar production for fiscal year 2000 should total 4.95 million short tons, raw value. The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) estimated the sugar beet crop at 33.319 million tons. Area harvested is estimated at 1.527 million acres, and yield is estimated at 21.8 tons per acre. Both sugar beet acreage harvested and production represent records.

Cane sugar production for fiscal 2000 is estimated at a record 4.13 million. NASS estimated the U.S. sugarcane for sugar crop at 33.736 million tons. Area harvested is estimated at 940,400 acres, and yield is estimated at 35.9 tons per acre. Both sugarcane acreage harvested and production, if realized, would represent records. Production was particularly strong in Louisiana, where increased acreage harvested and yields combined to produce a record crop.

The expected level of sugar tariff-rate quota (TRQ) imports for FY 2000 is now estimated at 1.204 million tons. As of May 1, total raw TRQ sugar amounting to 430,316 tons had entered the U.S. customs territory, or about 34% of the amount projected to enter for the fiscal year.

As of May 1, 34,190 tons or about 89% of the remaining refined sugar TRQ, apart from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) allocation to Mexico of 27,558 tons had entered.

Other imports for FY 2000 are estimated at 523,000 tons. Most of these imports enter under special programs: the Refined Sugar Re-export Program (250,000 tons), the Sugar-Containing Products Program (125,000 tons) and the Polyhydric Alcohol Program (15,000 tons.

The entire sugar and sweeteners report is available on the Internet at http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/reports/erssor/specialty/sss-bb/2000/sss228s.asc