LONDON –The fiscal year 2011 refined sugar tariff-rate quota (TRQ) of 136,078 metric tons raw value has been increased to 224,261 tons raw value, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Friday.
The U.S. consumes about 9.5 million metric tons of sugar a year and must import some of it to meet demand. But the government limits low-tariff or duty-free imports of sugar to protect domestic producers.
Some food industry groups criticize the quota system, and say it artificially inflates prices in the U.S. by limiting imports of cheap, world sugar.
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