WASHINGTON  — The US Department of Agriculture is increasing the fiscal year 2023 (2022-23) overall sugar marketing allotment quantity (OAQ), increasing beet and state cane sugar allotments, revising company allocations to sugar beet and sugar cane processors, and reassigning beet and cane sugar marketing allocations to raw cane sugar imports already anticipated, for all domestic beet and cane sugar marketed for human consumption in the United States from Oct. 1, 2022, through Sept. 30, 2023.

The USDA is increasing the 2022-23 OAQ by 63,750 short tons, raw value, to 10,710,000 tons, including 5,820,885 tons of beet sugar (up 34,648 tons) and 4,889,115 tons of cane sugar (up 29,102 tons), based on an increase of 75,000 tons, to 12,600,000 tons, in the estimated quantity of sugar for domestic human consumption for the year in the March World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report.

The initial 2022-23 OAQ was announced Sept. 30, 2022, at 10,646,250 tons, equal to 85% of the estimated quantity of sugar for domestic human consumption at 12,525,000 tons for the year as forecast in the September 2022 WASDE report (with 54.35% for beet sugar and 45.65% for cane sugar).

After evaluating individual sugar beet and sugar cane processors’ ability to market their full allocation, the USDA is transferring 2022-23 allocations from both beet and cane processors with surplus allocation to those with deficit allocations. Further, the USDA said, US domestic beet and cane sugar supplies were inadequate to fill the 2022-23 beet and cane sugar marketing allotments. Thus, the USDA reassigned 250,000 tons of the beet sugar deficit and 500,000 tons of the raw cane sugar deficit to raw cane sugar imports already anticipated.

The changes will not prevent any domestic beet or cane sugar processor from marketing their full 2022-23 sugar supply, the USDA said. The USDA will closely monitor the situation going forward. Domestic sugar supplies have been tight this year, and prices have been historically tight. The USDA announcement will be in the April 11 Federal Register.