Candy industry looks to pour foreign sugar into US market
22.05.12
Business is so sweet for chocolatiers and confectioners right now that the NCA president recently boasted: “A lot of people think that it’s oil and energy that drives this economy, but it’s candy, it’s chocolate that’s doing well in this economy.”
Comparing candy’s economic prowess to oil and energy may be a stretch, but his point is a good one. Candy companies have been dubbed “recession-proof” on Wall Street for increasing production during the downturn, adding jobs, and making a lot of money for shareholders.
So why are their lobbyists so sour?
Every five years when Congress debates a new farm bill, confectioners plow boatloads of profits into slick lobbying campaigns aimed at driving down the price of one of their biggest ingredients — sugar. They tell lawmakers that U.S. sugar prices have led to economic woes.
Such claims feel a little hollow since most of us can walk into a restaurant and pick up free sugar packets, and it all seems disingenuous since the country’s best known confectioner just posted a 23 percent income increase in 2011.
Source: Western Farm Press