Documentation

Scope
Marketing Years
Sources
Updates
Conversion Factors
Data Items

Scope

This database contains statistics on: sugar, sugarbeets, sugarcane, corn sweeteners: dextrose, glucose syrup, and high fructose corn syrup; honey, maple syrup, sugar syrups, sugar byproducts: beet pulp and molasses.

Marketing Years

The marketing year for U.S. sugar begins October 1. The crop year for sugarbeets and sugarcane begins August 1 and September 1, respectively. The exception is for Hawaii sugarcane, which begins on January 1. Note that Hawaii no longer produces sugar. All other products are on a calendar year basis.

Sources

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
Producer Price Indexes (PPI) for raw and refined sugar and corn sweeteners; refined sugar retail consumer price; and Consumer Price Index (CPI) for sugar and sweeteners and various sugar-containing products.

Comité Nacional para el Desarrollo Sustentable de la Caña de Azúcar (CONADESUCA)
Mexico sugar and high fructose corn syrup supply and use data, data on Mexico sugar harvest.

Farm Service Agency (FSA) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Sweetener Market Data: survey data reported to FSA by sugarbeet and sugarcane processors and by cane sugar refiners for U.S. sugar supply and use.

Feedstuffs: The Weekly Newspaper for Agribusiness
U.S. molasses and beet pulp prices

Foreign Agricultural Service of the USDA
World sugar production, supply, and distribution (PSD).

U.S. sugar trade data, including tariff-rate quotas under the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), re-export program imports, high-tier tariff imports.

Trade Data Monitor
Sugar and high fructose corn syrup trade for Mexico.

Intercontinental Exchange
U.S. and world raw sugar nearby futures prices.
World refined sugar nearby futures prices.

Milling and Baking News: The News Weekly of Grain-Based Foods
U.S. refined beet sugar and corn sweetener spot and list prices.

National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) of the USDA
Area, yield, and production data and crop values for sugarbeets, sugarcane, honey, and maple syrup.

U.S. Census Bureau
U.S. export and import trade data for sugar, high fructose corn syrup, honey, maple syrup, molasses, beet pulp, and related products.

World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) of the USDA
Forecast data for U.S. and Mexico sugar supply and use for current- and out-year.

Updates

Most data are updated/revised monthly. Supply and use of the following products are revised annually: dextrose, glucose syrup, honey, maple syrup. U.S. consumption of caloric sweeteners is updated in May.

Conversion Factors

Short ton = 2,000 pounds

Metric ton = 2,204.6225 pounds

Metric ton = 0.907185 short ton and short ton = 1.102311 metric ton.

Raw value = 1.07*refined value, except for sugar from Mexico: raw value = 1.06*actual weight

Data Items

World Production, Supply, and Distribution
Data released twice a year in May and November by FAS. The May release contains data for the next marketing year.

World and U.S. Sugar and Corn Sweetener Prices
U.S. and world raw sugar prices (Intercontinental Exchange) and world refined sugar prices (LIFFE) are from daily nearby futures quotes from the respective exchanges in New York and London. The U.S. refined beet sugar and corn sweetener list and spot prices are the low end of the range reported in Milling and Baking News. CPIs and PPIs are updated monthly by BLS. State-level sugarbeet and sugarcane prices are published annually by NASS.

U.S. Sugar Supply and Use
All data except historical trade data are revised monthly. Most data are sourced from Sweetener Market Data and WASDE.

Corn Sweetener and Other Product Supply, Use, and Trade
Most trade data is updated monthly from official government sources: U.S. Census Bureau for the United States and the Secretariat of the Economy (Economia) for Mexico (accessed through the Global Trade Atlas). Net corn cost calculations and field corn use are from ERS's Corn Briefing Room site.  Supply and use of high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, and glucose syrup are estimated by ERS Sugar and Sweeteners personnel. Other data come from NASS.

U.S. Consumption of Caloric Sweeteners
Data are estimated annually by ERS based on analysis of supply and use data described above. Food availability data are adjusted for losses (spoilage, uneaten portions, etc.) prior to consumption to calculate per capita sweetener consumer intake.

Sugar and Sweeteners in Mexico
Mexico sugar supply and use data come from the WASDE and are supplemented by more disaggregated data from CNDSCA and ERS Sugar and Sweetener Outlook analysis of that data. Monthly Mexican City estandar and refinada sugar price data come from weekly quotes from Economia.  

FAS Sugar and Sweetener Trade Data
Monthly data comes from FAS's Import Policies and Export Reporting Division, Office of Trade Programs.