Sugar: Background, Policies & Issues

Governments of every sugar-producing nation intervene to protect their domestic industries from fluctuating world market prices. Such intervention is necessary, it is argued, because both sugar cane and sugar beets must be processed soon after harvest using costly processing machinery. When farmers significantly reduce production because of low prices, a cane or beet processing plant typically shuts down, usually never to reopen. This close link between production and capital-intensive processing makes price stability important to industry survival. This book examines the background, policies and issues of the sugar industry across the globe.