WASHINGTON – The Office of the US Trade Representative jointly with the US Department of Agriculture announced on March 13 the reallocation of approximately 247,182 short tons (224,240 tons) of unused country-specific tariff rate quota (TRQ) imported raw materials. cane sugar for the year 2022-23 (FY 2023).
“Based on consultations with quota holders, USTR has decided to reallocate 224,240 metric tons of the initial TRQ quantity of raw materials from countries that have announced that they do not intend to fill their FY 2023 raw cane sugar raw materials allocations,” USTR said. .
Redistribution does not change 2022-2023. total raw cane sugar import quota of 1,117,195 tons, the minimum amount the United States has committed to under World Trade Organization agreements with 40 sugar-exporting countries, but should help reduce the 255,000 short tons. , the cost of raw materials, the TRQ shortfall was reported in the USDA’s March 8 World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report, although it is understood that not all of the reallocated amount will be delivered.
In its March WASDE report, the USDA forecast 2022-23 US sugar inventories rose to 1,720,000 tonnes, down 154,000 tonnes from February, mainly due to forecasts of sharp declines in production and exports from Mexico, the top supplier of imported sugar to the United States. Imports from Mexico are largely covered by countervailing duty and anti-dumping suspension agreements on sugar imports from Mexico that are not under the TRQ program. In its WASDE report, the USDA projected a 2022-23 U.S. ending stocks-to-use ratio of 13.5%, which is on the lower end of the 13.5% to 15.5% STU ratio, which indicates sugar for U.S. users. sufficient stock.
USTR reallocated 224,240 tons of TRQ imports of raw sugar to the following 25 countries, with Brazil, the Dominican Republic, and Australia receiving the largest reallocations, by tons; Brazil: 42,765; Dominican Republic, 40,000; Australia, 24,479; Guatemala, 14,157; Argentina, 12,682; Peru, 12,092; Panama, 8553; El Salvador, 7668; Colombia, 7078; South Africa, 6783; Eswatini (Swaziland), 4719; Costa Rica, 4424; Thailand, 4,129; Mozambique, 3834; Guyana, 3539; Mauritius, 3539; Zimbabwe, 3539; Belize, 3244; Ecuador, 3244; Honduras, 2949; Malawi, 2949; Fiji, 2654; Bolivia, 2360; India, 2360; and Barbados, 500. The USTR announcement will be released on March 14 Federal Register.