A growing number of lawmakers – including Democrats and Republicans from the House and Senate – are working to enact a comprehensive reform of the U.S. sugar program that will allow buyers and sellers to conduct business in a competitive marketplace, without costly government intrusion.

The current U.S. sugar program costs bakers and consumers more than $4 billion each year in higher sugar prices, according to the American Bakers Association. This sugar policy has a long history of supporting a small group of sugar producers at the expense of sugar users.

ABA is firmly against current sugar policy and actively supports sugar program reform.

In the 2012 Farm Bill, reform of the current U.S. sugar program is needed to put an end to high sugar prices. U.S. sugar prices are at an all-time high, and continue to average nearly twice the world price. In 2010, world refined sugar prices averaged less than 28 cents per pound, but U.S. prices were over 53 cents a pound.