THE SUGAR BEAT

March 28, 2017 Big Candy Company Expands Abroad...in AmericaU.S. sugar prices are as low today as they were in the 1980s. Yet, candy company lobbyists falsely tell lawmakers prices are high as part of their campaign to gut no-cost sugar policy.Confectioners proved to be recession proof and added jobs during the Great Recession while other industries contracted. Yet, candy company lobbyists still claim they are struggling.There are more than 100 examples of sweetened-food manufacturers expanding in America since 2012. And last week, there was a major story of a huge candy company expanding into the United States.Here's how the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported the news:The German giant that originated the gummy bear will open its first North American candy factory in Pleasant Prairie [Wis.],  bringing hundreds of jobs and nearly a quarter-billion dollar investment to the rapidly growing border area, Gov. Scott Walker announced Thursday.Haribo of Bonn, Germany, will invest $242 million in the plant and create 400 jobs there when the factory opens in 2020, the GOP governor said."These are well-paying jobs above market (salary) and they tend to offer a full benefit package," Walker said at a Capitol news conference.That is great news for the U.S. economy and for U.S. beet and cane producers, who are eager to supply high-quality affordable sugar to the new candy production plant.So why did Haribo decide to build its first U.S. facility?Even though sugar prices have historically been higher in Europe than the United States, according to the International Sugar Organization, price probably had little to do with it. After all, there is less than 7 cents worth of sugars in a $2.87 bag of gummy bears.Europe subsidizes its sugar farmers to the tune of about $665 million a year, compared to an American policy that costs taxpayers $0. But, the decision probably wasn't policy driven either.Our guess is that Haribo's decision was made because America is a great place to do business. U.S. workers are the best in the world, U.S. technology is world class, and proximity to U.S. consumers and U.S. sugar producers is key.It kind of makes you wonder why the Big Candy lobby continues to push an agenda on Capitol Hill to outsource America's sugar production to less efficient subsidized foreign growers.