WASHINGTON — The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) on Nov. 29 announced the reallocation of 223,740 tonnes, raw value, of unused country-specific raw cane sugar tariff-rate quota (TRQ) allocations for fiscal 2024 (2023-24 marketing year) that ends Sept. 30, 2024.

The original fiscal 2024 TRQ for raw cane sugar was set by the US Department of Agriculture at 1,117,195 tonnes on July 5, 2023, and is based on US commitments to 40 countries under World Trade Organization agreements. The USTR announced country-by-country allocations on July 19, 2023.

“Based on consultation with quota holders, USTR has determined to reallocate 223,740 tonnes of the original TRQ quantity from those countries that have stated they do not plan to fill their FY 2024 allocated raw cane sugar quantities,” the USTR said. The sugar was reallocated to 22 countries, with the largest shares going to Brazil (52,581 tonnes), Australia (30,098 tonnes), Guatemala (17,406 tonnes), Argentina (15,592 tonnes), Peru (14,868 tonnes) and Panama (10,516 tonnes). 

There are several countries included in the original TRQ announcement each year that never ship sugar to the United States under the agreement, including some that no longer produce sugar. In addition, the USDA in its November World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report confirmed that the Philippines would not fill any of its fiscal 2024 TRQ allocation (145,235 tonnes, raw value) as that country had designated all its sugar supply for domestic use due to drought-reduced production and high sugar prices.

The reallocation was one of the earliest, if not the earliest, by the USTR during any sugar marketing year, and is an indication of concern about adequate raw cane sugar supplies in the United States amid drought-reduced production in Louisiana and a second year of drought-reduced outturn in Mexico, the largest sugar exporter to the United States through an agreement outside of the WTO.