Candy buckets are essential to Halloween. Due to a sugar scarcity, American confectioners may cost more this Halloween.
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that candy producers are facing rising expenses and production issues due to sugar shortages.
Candy makers blame the sugar shortfall on an agriculture legislation that mandates 85% of US sugar purchases from domestic processors.
Sugar growers and processors deny that the agricultural strategy caused the recent sugar price hike and shortages
According to the USDA, raw sugar cane prices reached 42.56 cents a pound in May, the highest level since January 2011, while Midwestern
refined beet sugar prices rose to 62 cents. WSJ stated that the USDA anticipates sugar supplies to dip 2.3% next crop year.
The president of Ohio-based Spangler Candy, Kirk Vashaw, told the publication that the company has struggled to keep up with production
in the past year due to a sugar shortage. He said they had to deny sweets orders they couldn't complete and produced 50 million fewer candy
Atkinson Candy Company in Texas, like Spangler, has had problems finding sugar to complete demands.
The Wall Street Journal said that company president Eric Atkinson nearly ran out of supplies before discovering a Colombian sugar supplier.