[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 102 (Friday, May 26, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30373-30375]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-4875]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Commodity Credit Corporation


Domestic Sugar Program--2005-Crop Cane Sugar and Sugar Beet 
Marketing Allotments and Company Allocations

AGENCY: Commodity Credit Corporation, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice sets forth the establishment and adjustments to 
the sugar overall allotment quantity (OAQ) for the 2005-crop year (FY 
2006) which runs from October 1, 2005 through September 30, 2006. 
Although CCC already announced all of the information in this notice, 
CCC is statutorily required to publish in the Federal Register 
determinations establishing or adjusting sugar marketing allotments. 
CCC set the 2005-crop OAQ to 8.600 million short tons raw value (STRV) 
on August 12, 2005. On August 19, 2005, CCC allocated the cane sector 
allotment to cane-producing States and cane processors and reassigned 
an expected cane supply shortfall of 120,000 STRV to imports. On 
September 29, 2005, CCC increased the OAQ to 8.825 million STRV and 
reassigned another 276,000 STRV of expected cane shortfall to imports. 
The next day, CCC announced the FY 2006 beet company allocations. On 
December 2, 2006, CCC reassigned another 450,000 STRV of an updated 
cane supply shortfall to imports. On February 2, 2006, CCC increased 
the OAQ to 9.350 million STRV and reassigned 500,000 STRV of the 
anticipated domestic supply deficit to imports. The revised FY 2006 
cane state allotments and cane and beet sugar processor allocations 
were announced on March 22, 2006.

ADDRESSES: Barbara Fecso, Dairy and Sweeteners Analysis Group, Economic 
Policy and Analysis Staff, Farm Service Agency, USDA, 1400 Independence 
Avenue, SW., STOP 0516, Washington, DC 20250-0516; telephone (202) 720-
4146; FAX (202) 690-1480; e-mail: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Barbara Fecso at (202) 720-4146.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 359b(b)(1) of the Agricultural 
Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended, (7 U.S.C. 1359bb(a)(1)) requires 
the Secretary to establish, by the beginning of each crop year, an 
appropriate allotment for the marketing by processors of sugar 
processed from sugar beets and from domestically produced sugarcane at 
a level the Secretary estimates will result in no forfeitures of sugar 
to the CCC under the loan program.
    When CCC announced an 8.600 million ton OAQ in August 2005, it 
noted the existence of sugar market uncertainties and that the OAQ 
could be adjusted as warranted. On August 19, 2005, when cane processor 
allocations were first announced, CCC determined that the cane sugar 
supply was insufficient to fill the cane sector allotment. As a result, 
CCC suspended Louisiana proportionate shares and reassigned 120,000 
STRV to the FY 2006 raw sugar Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ).
    On September 29, 2005, in response to preliminary damage estimates 
to Louisiana production from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, CCC increased 
the FY 2006 OAQ another 225,000 tons. While this action released 
122,288 STRV of domestic beet sugar stocks into the market, the cane 
sector carried a supply deficit which caused CCC to reassign 276,000 
STRV to Mexican refined or raw imports.
    On December 2, 2006, with domestic cane crop damages further 
compounded by Hurricane Wilma in Florida, CCC increased its forecast of 
the cane supply shortfall and reassigned another 450,000 STRV to 
imports. This was allocated between the WTO raw sugar TRQ (300,000 
STRV) and the refined global, first-come, first-served TRQ (150,000 
STRV). Since company-specific damages were not known then, CCC did not 
announce the impact of the reassignment on cane processors.
    On February 2, 2006, CCC increased the OAQ to 9.350 million STRV 
and reassigned 500,000 STRV of expected supply shortfalls from both the 
beet (242,000 STRV) and cane (258,000 STRV) sectors evenly between the 
WTO raw sugar TRQ and the refined TRQ. CCC took these actions in 
response to a continuing tight supply resulting largely from the 
disastrous weather events in August, September, and October 2005.
    Because Puerto Rico forecast zero production for the 2005 crop, 
whenever the OAQ was either set or changed, its allotment was 
immediately reassigned to the mainland states based on their respective 
shares of the cane sugar allotment. Hawaii did not receive a share of 
Puerto Rico's allocation because it was not expected to use all of its 
own allocation.
    The established 2005-crop beet and cane sugar marketing allotments 
are listed in the following table, along with the subsequent 
adjustments:

[[Page 30374]]



                                                                      FY 2006 Overall Beet/Cane Allotments and Allocations
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                                                                                                                                          Total change   Total change
                                                FY 2006       225                                 Allotments/                               from OAQ         from      Reassignment  Allotments/
                                              allotments   increase   Reassignment  Reassignment  Allocations   Increase   Reassignment    increases    reassignments     of PNW     Allocations
                Distribution                   as of  8/   in OAQ on   to imports    on 12/02/06   as of  12/   in OAQ on   on  2/2/06     from last     of  9/30/05,  reserve  3/3/ as of  3/22/
                                                 19/05      9/30/05    on 9/30/05                    02/06       2/2/06                    processor    12/2/06 and 2/      06            06
                                                                                                                                         announcements       2/06
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Beet Sugar..................................   4,674,100     122,288            0             0     4,796,388     285,338     -242,000        285,338       -242,000             0     4,839,725
Cane Sugar..................................   3,805,900     102,713     -276,000      -450,000     3,182,613     239,663     -258,000        342,375       -984,000             0     3,164,275
WTO Raw Sugar TRQ...........................     120,000           0            0       300,000       420,000           0      250,000              0        550,000             0       670,000
Mexico TRQ Raw or Refined...................           0           0      276,000             0       276,000           0            0              0        276,000             0       276,000
Refined TRQ (global first-come, first-                 0           0            0       150,000       150,000           0  \1\ 250,000              0        400,000             0       400,000
 served)....................................
                                             ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total OAQ...............................   8,600,000     225,000            0             0     8,825,000     525,000            0        627,713              0             0     9,350,000
Beet Processors' Marketing Allocations:
    Amalgamated Sugar Co....................  ..........     999,303  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............        59,449         99,264             0     1,158,015
    American Crystal Sugar Co...............  ..........   1,715,584  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............       110,046       -223,608       129,096     1,731,118
    Michigan Sugar Co.......................  ..........     482,017  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............        28,675        -43,662             0       467,030
    Minn-Dak Farmers Co-op..................  ..........     299,233  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............        17,801        -37,797             0       279,237
    So. Minn Beet Sugar Co-op...............  ..........     629,936  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............        37,475         10,346             0       677,756
    Western Sugar Co........................  ..........     477,233  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............        28,085        -32,271             0       473,047
    Wyoming Sugar Co........................  ..........      63,985  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............         3,806        -14,271             0        53,521
    PNW Allocation Held in Reserve..........  ..........     129,096  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............             0              0      -129,096             0
                                             ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Total Beet Sugar....................  ..........   4,796,388  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............       285,338       -242,000             0     4,839,725
State Cane Sugar Allotments:
    Florida.................................   1,908,516  ..........  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............       184,019       -646,742   ............    1,445,792
    Louisiana...............................   1,447,785  ..........  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............       142,359       -317,090   ............    1,273,054
    Texas...................................     180,000  ..........  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............        15,997        -15,572   ............      180,425
    Hawaii..................................     269,599  ..........  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............             0         -4,596   ............      265,003
    Puerto Rico.............................           0  ..........  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............             0              0   ............            0
                                             ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Total Cane Sugar....................   3,805,900  ..........  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............       342,375       -984,000   ............    3,164,275
Cane Processors' Marketing Allocations:
Florida:
    Florida Crystals........................     792,262  ..........  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............        75,765       -360,906   ............      507,121
    Growers Co-op. of FL....................     324,343  ..........  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............        33,102        -92,316   ............      265,129
    U.S. Sugar Corp.........................     791,911  ..........  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............        75,151       -193,520   ............      673,542
                                             ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Total...............................   1,908,516  ..........  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............       184,019       -646,742   ............    1,445,792
Louisiana:
    Alma Plantation.........................     155,960  ..........  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............        13,551        -38,208   ............      131,302
    Cajun Sugar Co-op.......................     146,915  ..........  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............        14,395        -36,683   ............      124,626
    Cora-Texas Mfg. Co......................     140,000  ..........  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............        13,223           -222   ............      153,001
    Lafourche Sugars Corp...................      89,804  ..........  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............         7,754        -24,483   ............       73,075
    Louisiana Sugarcane Co-op...............      94,696  ..........  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............        10,946        -11,606   ............       94,036
    Lula Westfield, LLC.....................     175,393  ..........  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............        16,811        -23,985   ............      168,219
    M.A. Patout & Sons......................     415,959  ..........  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............        39,994       -110,757   ............      345,197
    St. Mary Sugar Co-op....................     130,962  ..........  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............        14,500        -39,211   ............      106,250
    So. Louisiana Sugars Co-op..............      98,096  ..........  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............        11,186        -31,935   ............       77,347
                                             ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Total...............................   1,447,785  ..........  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............       142,359       -317,090   ............    1,273,054
Texas:
    Rio Grande Valley.......................     180,000  ..........  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............        15,997        -15,572   ............      180,425
Hawaii:
    Gay & Robinson, Inc.....................      54,699  ..........  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............             0            -61   ............       54,638
    Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company.....     214,900  ..........  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............             0         -4,535   ............      210,366
                                             ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Total...............................     269,599  ..........  ............  ............  ...........  ..........  ............             0         -4,596   ............     265,003
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\1\ Of this amount, 27,558 STRV to Canada, 65,421 to Mexico and 157,021 to global.


[[Page 30375]]

    These actions apply to all domestic sugar marketed for human 
consumption in the United States from October 1, 2005, through 
September 30, 2006.

    Signed in Washington, DC, on May 15, 2006.
Teresa C. Lasseter,
Executive Vice President, Commodity Credit Corporation.
[FR Doc. 06-4875 Filed 5-25-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-05-P