Sugar prices, availability...

[tan319]

I walked into work yesterday only to have my chef tell me that a few of our major purveyors has alerted him that sugar stocks will (and are) going down.

The hurricanes have apparently ruined a lot of properties and displaced up to 126,000 employees of the sugar producers.

10x is very hard to get at the moment.

Brown sugar in 3# bags is out, 25# bags only.

The implications are grim if this isn't bull.

Anybody else out there heard anything along these lines???

[Sebastian]

Prior to the hurricanes, there was a projected deficit of US sugar (we will c onsume more than we will produce). This is exacerbated by the hurricanes. An estimated $300 million of the coutnry's sugar crop has been destroyed. Now, normally when sugar is imported, a duty is levied against it to bring world sugar prices in line with domestic pricing, to protect domestic growers. It's on a quota system, and gets very complicated very quickly (not sure I fully understand it - i'm fact i'm sure i don't), but this week the USDA increased that quota, meaning that the US will be allowed to bring in additional foreign sugar (nontarriffed) to help compensate for the destruction of this years crop. Longer term, they've also approved $29 million in funding of the Emergency Conservation Fund Program, to help farmers get their lands back into produceable shape quickly. 1/2 of that is allocated to Louisiana, which produced 35% of the nations sugar.

Net net, expect taht sugar prices will go up even in spite of these things, but it could be much, much worse.

[chefpeon]

I wonder if that explains why my brown sugar is "different" now. It's making all my cookies different too (in a slight way, that only I would notice ). It's definitely much more coarse, and does not pack well. It's the weirdest brown sugar I've ever had.

I have not yet experienced sugar "shortage" or anyone telling me that it may be hard to come by soon, but I will check on that. If that comes to pass, I'll need to raise my wholesale prices for sure.

BUT.....my Puratos rep told me that he's having a hard time getting PUMPKIN! They could only get two pallets in from Libby's for the WHOLE HOLIDAY SEASON, and he told me upfront that it will be very difficult to get pumpkin from them! Has anyone heard about the pumpkin thing???

[chiantiglace]

I might be wrong but, I was under the impression that 70% of americas granulated sugar (not sugar containing molasses, brown and dark brown) was produced by sugar beets harvested in the central and northwestern states. Also europe containing a large supply a the world sugar with sugar beet production.

So I would think that when were talking about sugar losses and higher prices that maybe were focusing more on the "brown sugar". I'm wondering if this will have an impact on large producers using high amounts of brown sugar in recipes to convert to granulated and possibly conr syrup or an added moisture? I am curious if it will have a profound affect on our everyday items.

[bripastryguy]

I was also alerted to the same dilema. I snatched up 800 lbs. I hope it will last for awhile. I also heard the same about Pumpkin. I will buying my 4 cases asap

[tan319]

  I am curious if it will have a profound affect on our everyday items.

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In a big way.

[CanadianBakin']

That might explain why there's been less available at retail stores. I haven't seen 2kg bags of brown sugar for 2 or 3 weeks now and icing sugar is also a bit hit and miss.

[Beanie]

That might explain why there's been less available at retail stores. I haven't seen 2kg bags of brown sugar for 2 or 3 weeks now and icing sugar is also a bit hit and miss.

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There's no shortage of sugar or canned pumpkin in retail stores in the Albany NY area. All the supermarkets have huge displays of seasonal baking ingredients. But that doesn't mean there won't be a shortage in the near future. I'm sure current inventories were purchased some time ago. My suppliers haven't mentioned any problems, but I'll check later in the week and report back.

[Patrick S]

I am not an expert in agricultural economics, but I have read that the US market price for sugar is 2 to 4 times that of the world market price, and that this state of affairs is maintained by steep tariffs on imported sugar. So all congress would have to do to prevent a shortage, if it came to that, is just relax tariffs a little. According to a trade policy analyst from the Cato institute:

Washington uses preferential loan agreements and tariff-rate quotas to keep the price Americans pay for sugar artificially high. Although there is fluctuation, U.S. consumers paid roughly twice the world market price for sugar between 1985 and 1998.[1] The gap has been even worse in recent years. Currently, a March 2004 contract on domestic sugar costs 20.35 cents per pound while the same sugar at world prices costs 5.74 cents per pound. [2] In other words, because of the sugar program, a U.S. buyer is forced to pay three and a half times the market rate for sugar.

Link

Edited October 10, 2005 by Patrick S (log)

[skyflyer3]

Thank you! I'm glad I'm not the only one who's noticed that brown sugar is up to $4 a lb at the supermarket. And dark brown sugar isn't even dark brown anymore, unless it's Billington's - do a color comparison between C&H's dark brown and golden brown, and there's honestly a very subtle difference between the two. Wish I could buy Billington's in bulk....

[Sebastian]

Actually, domestic sugar prices aren't 2-4x higher, but they are higher than world sugar prices. This is essentially due to protectionistic policies meant to protect domestic farmers from cheap sources elsewhere. The gap varies based on a number of factors, and currently the gap is only marginally higher (somewhere in the area of 0.10 cents i believe..). Even so, the US gov't has both relaxed the tarriffs as well as the amounts of sugar allowed to come in, as it's widely recognized that for a country addicted to sugar, there's a bit of a crisis looming. Two factories were damaged in the hurricane - one was back on line w/in 3 days (albiet not at full capacity), and while I'm not positive, i tihnk the second one is still offline...

[Pam R]

I spent the weekend in North Dakota and Northern Minnesota. What I noticed is that brown sugar was actually on sale in a few of the grocery stores I went into.

I also noticed that the two sugar plants I passed by had their usual mountains of sugar beets piled up in rows, with trucks overflowing with beets following me on the highways. If I knew how to extract the sugar myself, I could have had a years supply just with the beets that had fallen off the trucks and were on the sides of the road.

I honestly have no idea what the difference between white granulated sugar from beets vs. from cane is. I assume that almost all of the (white) sugar I get in these parts is from the beet.

[Patrick S]

I honestly have no idea what the difference between white granulated sugar from beets vs. from cane is.

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Sugar is 99.95% sucrose whether it is derived from cane or from beets. I've heard people claim there are perceptible differences, but I've never noticed any myself!

[chiantiglace]

there isnt a difference. the only difference is the process in which the sugar is extracted and refined. The sugar beet process is faster yet much for technologically advanced while the sugar cane goes through several stages of refining and purifying.

[mpshort]

I hope I can do this but RLB wrote a great article on sugar here. According to her there is a difference in performance:

Beet sugar versus sugarcane sugar Because both are sucrose and chemically identical, it’s been thought that beet and cane sugars perform identically. But some bakers have reported what they suspect to be conflicting results and have concluded that cane sugar is superior. Miriam Morgan hypothesized in a San Francisco Chronicle article (March 31, 1999) that since both sugars are 99.95 percent sucrose, the difference lies in the remaining 0.05 percent, which is made up of trace differences in minerals and proteins. Caroline Weil of The Bake Shop in Berkeley, California, reports that her sugar syrups, when made with beet sugar, crystallized into large, chunky granules. Food writer and cookbook author Flo Braker experienced a similar problem when making sugar syrups in France, where beet sugar is prevalent, before finding that the addition of a small amount of cream of tartar as an interfering agent works well when using beet sugar for syrups. Food writer and cookbook author Marion Cunningham finds that cakes such as angel food and sponge develop a coarse texture with beet sugar. I haven’t noticed any change in the outcome of my recipes using refined or partially refined fine granulated sugar and would hypothesize that there are many possible causes for variation. More extensive scientific investigation is required to come to a definitive conclusion.

[Patrick S]

Maybe I'm reading her wrong, but it looks like RLB is saying that while a few people have claimed that there are such differences, there are actually many possible causes for variation between sugars (i.e. other than cane vrs beet origin), and that, in her words, "[m]ore extensive scientific investigation is required to come to a definitive conclusion."

This would be a good experiment to conduct some weekend. I personally am skeptical that significant differences exist, mainly because I have made many cakes and sugar syrups with both beet and cane sugar, and not observed those differences myself. But maybe I haven't been observant enough. Nonetheless, a blind test, maybe even a double-blind test, would be enlightening.

By double-blind, I mean neither the baker nor the tasters would know which sugar is which. Someone not involved in baking or tasting would repackage the sugars so that no one knows which cakes/candies are beet and which are cane until the votes have been cast.

[skyflyer3]

That's an awesome article. I'm interested in baking with the partially refined castor sugar she mentions - is this readily available?

[mpshort]

My personal experience: before I even read that article I did notice that my cooked sugar icing wasn't as smooth when I used beet sugar.