Farm Bill authorizes purchase of surplus US sugar for ethanol production

June 2, 2008

In the recently enacted Farm Bill, a provision calls for the US Government to purchase overstocks of sugar — caused by the opening of the US sugar market under the NAFTA agreement. Observers say that the government is likely, but not required, to sell the excess sugar to ethanol producers. The most plausible scenario is that the Commodity Credit Corporation will buy sugar juice or syrup made from cane or sugarbeet, and sell it to be mixed with corn as feedstock for conventional corn ethanol plants.

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