Current talks surrounding renegotiation of the North America Free Trade Agreement are lacking sweetness.
So far as the Alberta Sugar Beet Growers know, sugar and Canada’s access to the U.S. market have not come up at all in the talks. At first blush, that might be considered a good thing, given the quixotic nature of U.S. President Donald Trump’s position on NAFTA.
However, ASBG director Kelly Van Ham is worried about that absence. He told delegates at the association’s annual meeting it might mean that sugar gets tacked on when talks conclude and it won’t get the attention it deserves.
Read Also
Key actions identified to address canola tariffs
Federal and Saskatchewan governments discuss next steps with industry on Chinese tariffs
“Under the current NAFTA agreement, we have access to 10,400 tonnes under the TRQ (tariff rate quota), so we are allowed to sell 10,400 tonnes of beet sugar, only beet sugar, not cane sugar, from Canada into the U.S. market,” Van Ham said after his report to growers.
“We’re fearful that that might get pulled back or reduced. Right now the tariffs on sugar coming into Canada are very low … and yet going into the U.S. they’re at … over $300.”
Van Ham said 10,400 tonnes might sound like a small amount, considering how much sugar the United States requires annually.
“We produce in Alberta here 125,000 to 130,000 tonnes (annually) so 10,400 is quite a large number for us,” he said.
“It’s significant.”
ASBG executive director Melody Garner-Skiba said a key goal for beet growers in NAFTA talks is that they “do no harm” to existing trade arrangements. Ideally, the ASBG would like increased access to the U.S. market for beet sugar.
Garner-Skiba said refiners agree with those goals, but because they also deal in cane sugar, they don’t necessarily support increased access for beet sugar alone. As well, they want more access to the U.S. market for sugar-containing products.
Mexico, the other player in NAFTA, once had unrestricted access for its sugar into the U.S., but that was curtailed in 2014. Now it can supply only 13.5 percent of the U.S. stocks-to-use ratio.
Should Mexico be unable to supply that, it could be an opportunity for Canadian growers, said Garner-Skiba. On the other hand, the powerful U.S. sugar lobby may seek to limit Canadian beet sugar imports.
As for the new iteration of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Garner-Skiba said it has limited scope for direct export increases of beet sugar, but there could be peripheral benefit through increased access of baked goods and sugar-containing products.
