WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 28, 2018) – In a new video released today, New Jersey-based Promotion In Motion Companies, Inc. CEO Michael Rosenberg joins the chorus of voices calling for the modernization of the U.S. sugar program. The manufacturer of fruit snacks and other popular brand name confections explains why the outdated U.S. sugar program is harming his business and employees.

“We are one of the 50 largest employers in the state,” Rosenberg notes. “We’d be able to do a lot more in terms of job creation if it weren’t for the fact that we are at a competitive disadvantage with sugar prices in the U.S. versus our competitors abroad.”

Rosenberg goes on to describe how the current sugar program artificially raises U.S. sugar prices to nearly twice the world average. The result is that American companies are at a competitive disadvantage and have fewer resources to invest back into their companies, workers, and communities. “We’re simply asking that the sugar program be reformed so that we and the United States can compete globally,” he says.

The Sugar Policy Modernization Act (H.R. 4265 / SB. 2086), introduced by a bicameral, bipartisan group of federal lawmakers late last year, would reform the outdated and outrageous program. The proposal creates an adequate supply of sugar based on a reasonable competitive approach that reaches from the farm to the retail shelf – without risking an appropriate safety net for farmers. Congress can reform the U.S. sugar program this year as part of its consideration of the 2018 Farm Bill, which sets government agriculture policy.

Promotion in Motion Companies, Inc. isn’t alone in calling on Congress to reform the U.S. sugar program. To hear what others are saying, watch the Alliance for Fair Sugar Policy’s new video series.

The Alliance for Fair Sugar Policy (AFSP) is a broad-based coalition advocating to modernize the outdated and outrageous U.S. sugar program. Formed by a sizeable group of small, family-owned businesses and manufacturers, retailers, food and beverage companies, trade associations, environmental advocates, taxpayer watchdog organizations, responsible government advocates, think tanks and other organizations, the group’s goal is to help level the playing field for American manufacturers and their families when it comes to being able to create jobs. To learn more about the Alliance for Fair Sugar Policy and the need for sugar reform, please visit FairSugarPolicy.org.

If you are interested in using any of the video(s), please reach out to info@FairSugarPolicy.org.

 

WASHINGTON, March 28, 2018 — In a new video series, workers and leaders from iconic American chocolate and candy companies highlight the ways the outdated U.S. sugar program is hurting their small businesses and impeding economic growth. These vignettes explore what the sugar program – which essentially doubles the cost of sugar for U.S.-based food companies – means for the future of small, family-owned businesses and manufacturers.

The sugar program is a complicated bureaucratic mess of price supports, market allocations, quotas, and government guarantees that are ultimately covered by taxpayer dollars. It is the only commodity subsidy program that has not been modernized in the past 80 years. The program forces manufacturers to pay twice as much for sugar as the rest of the world, putting American businesses at a competitive disadvantage when it comes to creating jobs. Click here to view a one-minute animated video that explains the issue.

“Not only am I competing with unfair trade laws with places like Europe, but I’m also now having to buy ingredients that are sometimes twice as expensive,” says Tess Albanese with Albanese Confectionery Group, Inc. “Untie my hand behind my back and let me have a fair fight […] We need to level the playing field so that my family can go out there and we can create jobs, and we can win on a national and international level.”

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, every sugar-processing job subsidized through artificially high U.S. sugar prices costs three American manufacturing jobs. The impact is so great that the U.S. Census Bureau estimates the sugar program killed 123,000 jobs between 1997 and 2015.

The sugar program has zero benefit for the American consumer – and this “sugar shakedown” is baked into nearly every food, snack, and treat available in grocery store aisles. Independent estimates show this hidden tax costs Americans between $2.4 and $4 billion each year.

“We’re the only gum ball manufacturer left in the United States, because all of my competitors have fled either up to Canada or down to Mexico where they can take advantage of world sugar and not have to pay the excessive sugar price that U.S. manufacturers are forced to pay,” George Stege of the Ford Gum & Machine Company says in his video. “The time for change has long passed; the time for change is now.”

The Sugar Policy Modernization Act (H.R. 4265 / SB. 2086), introduced by a bicameral, bipartisan group of federal lawmakers late last year, would reform the outdated and outrageous program.

The proposal creates an adequate supply of sugar based on a reasonable competitive approach that reaches from the farm to the retail shelf – without risking an appropriate safety net for farmers. Congress can reform the U.S. sugar program this year as part of its consideration of the 2018 Farm Bill, which sets government agriculture policy.

The companies participating in this video series are listed below, along with the states in which they operate:

California

• Adams & Brooks, Inc.
• Sconza Chocolates

Hawaii

• Hawaiian Host, Inc.

Indiana

• Albanese Confectionery Group, Inc.

Maryland

• Goetze’s Candy Company

New Jersey

• The Promotion In Motion Companies, Inc.

New York

• Ford Gum & Machine Company – President George Stege
• Ford Gum & Machine Company – Manufacturing Facility
• Madelaine Chocolate Company

Ohio

• Spangler Candy Company

Pennsylvania

• RM Palmer Company
• Just Born Quality Confections

Texas

• Atkinson Candy Company

Washington

• Brown & Haley Co.

The Alliance for Fair Sugar Policy (AFSP) is a broad-based coalition advocating to modernize the outdated and outrageous U.S. sugar program. Formed by a sizeable group of small, family-owned businesses and manufacturers, retailers, food and beverage companies, trade associations, environmental advocates, taxpayer watchdog organizations, responsible government advocates, think tanks and other organizations, the group’s goal is to help level the playing field for American manufacturers and their families when it comes to being able to create jobs. To learn more about the Alliance for Fair Sugar Policy and the need for sugar reform, please visit FairSugarPolicy.org.

If you are interested in using any of the video(s), please reach out to info@FairSugarPolicy.org.
 

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 19, 2018) – The Alliance for Fair Sugar Policy (AFSP) announced today its broad-based coalition advocating to modernize the outdated and outrageous U.S. sugar program. Formed by a sizeable group of small, family-owned businesses and manufacturers, retailers, food and beverage companies, trade associations, environmental advocates, taxpayer watchdog organizations, responsible government advocates, think tanks and other organizations, the group launched today to help level the playing field for American manufacturers and their families when it comes to being able to create jobs.

“The family farmer and the families who depend on manufacturing workers should be at the center of modernizing the sugar program. Our modest approach is the right policy to protect and create jobs for both the family farmer and American manufacturing workers,” said John Downs, president & CEO of the National Confectioners Association and co-chair of the Alliance for Fair Sugar Policy. “There is a simple solution – it’s time for Congress to say yes to fairness, yes to competitiveness, and yes to protecting and creating American manufacturing jobs.”

The sugar program is the only commodity subsidy program that has not been modernized in the past 80 years. It forces manufacturers to pay twice as much for sugar as the rest of the world, putting American businesses at a competitive disadvantage when it comes to creating jobs.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, every sugar-processing job subsidized through artificially high U.S. sugar prices costs three American manufacturing jobs. The impact is so great the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the sugar program killed 123,000 jobs between 1997 and 2015.

The sugar program has zero benefit for the American consumer – and this “sugar shakedown” is baked into nearly every food, snack, and treat available in grocery store aisles. Independent estimates show this hidden tax costs Americans between $2.4 and $4 billion each year.

AFSP supports The Sugar Policy Modernization Act (H.R. 4265 / S. 2086), which creates an adequate supply of sugar based on a reasonable competitive approach that reaches from the farm to the retail shelf – without risking an appropriate safety net for farmers.

“For too long, consumers, small businesses, and manufacturers have paid the price for an outdated program that hurts so many and benefits only a few. The sugar program is a complicated bureaucratic mess of price supports, market allocations, quotas, and government guarantees that are ultimately backstopped by taxpayer dollars,” Rick Pasco, president of the Sweetener Users Association and co-chair of the Alliance for Fair Sugar Policy, said.” This is the time for this Congress and this administration to do the right thing for American businesses and American workers.”

For more information about the Alliance for Fair Sugar Policy, please visit FairSugarPolicy.org.