Sugar demand has decreased bringing the forecasted net payment down

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — Bad news was delivered Thursday at the annual American Crystal Sugar and Red River Valley Sugarbeet growers convention in Fargo.

“People generally are more concerned about artificial sweeteners in their food products than they are real sugar. So that kind of messaging around the real natural qualities of sugar is what we’re attempting to do there. To make sure sugar maintains an important role in the diet,” said Tom Astrup, President and CEO of American Crystal Sugar. 

In the past few years, the sugarbeet harvest has increased much of the sugarbeets per acre. This year’s harvest is hitting a record of 13.3 million tons. But while that may be the case, the declining world sugar prices and excessive imports have brought the forecasted net payment down to $43.85 per ton from $78.00.

“Well, the reaction is not been good, I mean it’s going to put a lot of financial strain on their farm, and you combine it with the fact that commodity prices across the board, and really every crop that they raise in this part of the country that I can think of, is in a very difficult spot. And it’s in a loss situation,” said Astrup.

The company believes that the decline in demand for sugar is more people avoiding sugary foods and obtaining the drug, GLP-1.

“There’s no doubt that when twelve percent of Americans are taking a drug, and it reduces their calorie intake by twenty to thirty percent, if you do the math, it’s going to have some negative impact on food demand generally. And of course, all the ingredients that are in that product, including sugar. So it has had some of the four percent decline, I think is most certainly due to the use of those drugs,” said Astrup.

While the company acknowledges it faces challenges every year, they are continuously working to make sure the demand is there.

American Crystal Sugar announced this year that three of its board members are stepping down as well. This leaves twelve active board members.