U.S. Sells Sugar at Loss to Ethanol Maker to Ease Surplus
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture sold 7,118 short tons of beet sugar to an ethanol producer at a loss of $2.7 million as part of a program to reduce a domestic surplus of the sweetener and stave off government subsidies.
The sugar was purchased by the USDA’s Commodity Credit Corp. for $3.6 million and then sold it for about $900,000 to Front Range Energy LLC, a Windsor, Colorado, producer, the department said today. The sweetener, for which the USDA sought 25.2 cents a pound, was purchased for 6 cents. The transaction was the first under the Feedstock Flexibility Program created in 2008.