Washington, Oct 28 - The United States needs to import an additional 850,000 to 1 million short tons of sugar this year, a trade group representing U.S. food and beverage makers said on Wednesday, urging the Agriculture Department to expand import quotas.
"The total supply of sugar currently available to U.S. consumers and food and beverage manufacturers is totally inadequate," the Sweetener Users Association said, releasing a report on tight sugar supplies it gave to the USDA.
Sugar prices soared to 28-1/2-year peaks earlier this year because of crop problems in Brazil and India, but prices have come off those highs.
U.S. sugar users had urged the USDA to boost imports in the 2008/09 marketing year, which ended on Sept 30, but the department said supplies were adequate.
Under the U.S. sugar program, the government attempts to balance use with imports and domestic supplies to ensure a minimum price to farmers at no cost to taxpayers.
Last month, the USDA set an import quota of 1.231 million tons for 2010, but said additional imports may be needed to ensure adequate supplies.
The USDA should quickly announce increased import quotas to reduce costs for food makers and consumers, according to recommendations in the report prepared for the Sweetener Users Association by Promar International.
"If supplies are kept tight by government policy during 2009/10, it will cost U.S. consumers an additional and unnecessary $2 billion on top of the normal burden imposed by the sugar program," the report said.