SIC 2062 Cane Sugar Refining

Contenidos

• NAICS CODE(S).
• FURTHER READING.

SIC 2062

This entry includes establishments primarily engaged in refining purchased raw cane sugar and sugar syrup. Sugar cane is cut and milled into raw cane sugar, then shipped in that form to refiners to be processed into syrup, granulated sugar, powdered sugar, or brown sugar. Establishments that manufacture the raw cane sugar from sugar cane are included under SIC 2061: Cane Sugar, Except Refining. Other products of the cane sugar refining process include blackstrap molasses and invert sugar.

NAICS CODE(S)

311312

Cane Sugar Refining

The U.S. cane sugar refining industry has been facing heavy competition and increased economic challenges over the past two decades. Manufacturers of beet sugar, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), and artificial sweeteners have all taken a large share of the market away from cane sugar refiners. Sugar growers and refiners formed a $4 billion industry in 2006, with refiners accounting for about 25 percent of the total.

Soft drink manufacturers switched to HFCS from liquid cane sugar in the 1980s, striking a severe blow to the sugar industry. Meanwhile, per capita consumption of sugar (both beet and cane) plummeted from roughly 102 pounds in 1970 to about 60 pounds in 1990. By 2002, per capita consumption of sugar had fallen to 45 pounds and then declined to less than 44 pounds in 2004. This steady drop in consumption led to a reduction in cane sugar refineries, from 22 in 1981 to just 12 at the turn of the twenty-first century. To compensate for the losses, cane sugar refiners diversified, adding sugar beet processing operations and/or wet-milling operations to produce HFCS and other corn sweeteners. While high fructose corn syrup producers undercut the sugar market and Americans consumed more corn syrup than refined sugar in the early 2000s, candy and pastry makers were not impressed with substitutes for refined cane sugar. Insisting they achieved better results with pure cane sugar, candy and pastry makers continued to support the industry.

In addition to the rise in HFCS, cane sugar refiners faced other problems as well. Domestic production of sugar cane dropped, and a strict quota on imported raw cane sugar was imposed by the federal government. The drop in availability of imported raw sugar was especially serious to the industry, since U.S. sugar refineries processed more imported raw sugar than domestically-milled raw sugar. The longstanding federal sugar...