Sugar-Purchase Plan to Boost Prices Sent to White House
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture has asked the White House to approve a plan for the government to boost sugar prices by buying excess inventory and selling it to ethanol plants.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said no decision has been made on the plan, which the agency said went to President Barack Obama’s budget office last week. Prices for domestic sugar fell 37 percent in the past year as stockpiles climbed to the highest level in a decade. The surplus may trigger federal purchases under an unused program created in a 2008 agriculture bill. Sugar-to-ethanol is one of several options the government is weighing to steady prices, Vilsack said.