Kent Conrad: “it is kind of fun to have these debates. I look forward to a chance to once again talk about how the world sugar…”

“it is kind of fun to have these debates. I look forward to a chance to once again talk about how the world sugar industry works. The Senator from Arizona indicated that we are having to pay three times the world market price because of the sugar program. It is just not right. That isn't the case. It appears to be the case, but it is wrong. Here is the reason it is wrong. The vast majority of sugar in the world doesn't sell on the world market. The vast majority of sugar in the world sells under contract. Those contract prices are much higher than the so-called world market price. The world market price is a dumping price. It is what happens when producers produce more than they contracted for. They take that excess and they dump it on the market and sell it at fire sale prices. The world market price they talk about is, in fact, not a world market price. It does not represent what sugar sells for. It is totally misleading. As a result, you come to a wrong conclusion. The truth is that the last time we took away the sugar program, what happened to the price of sugar? Did the price of sugar go down? Does anybody remember? The price of sugar shot up. My, what a surprise. This sugar program is supposed to be producing higher prices. Yet when it was removed the last time, sugar prices did not go down; they went up. In fact, they went up dramatically. It is because people do not understand how the sugar market works. This program in effect stabilizes prices.”