May 15, 2013 2:07PM 

# Big Sugar Tries to Protect Its Sweet Deal from “Big Candy” 

By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) 

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We’ve written about the [outrageous](https://www.cato.org/blog/obama-administration-sides-special-interests-status-quo-sugar-imports) [sugar](https://www.cato.org/blog/us-sugar-program-means-higher-prices-short-supplies) import [quotas](https://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/tbb_0607_46.pdf) [here](https://www.cato.org/blog/sweet-yet-very-very-sour) [many](https://www.cato.org/blog/thank-uncle-sam-looming-sugar-shortage) [times](https://www.cato.org/blog/time-change-sugar-policy). And Chris Edwards [wrote](https://www.cato.org/blog/big-candys-greed) in March about the American Sugar Alliance’s ad in the *Washington Post* titled “Big Candy’s Greed.” But we couldn’t link to the ad because for some reason the American Sugar Alliance has not chosen to put a version of the ad on its [website](http://sugaralliance.org/). But the Alliance ran its expensive quarter-page ad in the *Post* last week, so we’re now able to provide the public service of making it available online.

Note that what candy producers and other sugar users want is to be allowed to buy sugar from the world’s most efficient producers at world market prices—just like every company in a free market. This protectionist nonsense “Big Candy” is fighting has been going on for decades. In 1985, the *Wall Street Journal* and then the *New York Times* reported that the Reagan administration had slapped emergency quotas on “edible preparations” such as jams, candies, and glazes—[and even imported frozen pizzas from Israel](http://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/03/nyregion/new-york-day-by-day-kosher-pizzas-are-led-to-their-promised-land.html?n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fSubjects%2fF%2fFood)—lest American companies import such products for the purpose of extracting the sugar from them. Apparently it might have been cheaper to import pizzas, squeeze the tiny amount of sugar out of them, and throw away the rest of the pizza than to buy sugar at U.S. producers’ protected prices.

As Chris Edwards [noted](https://www.cato.org/blog/big-candys-greed), a critic of Big Sugar quoted [in this article](http://floridaindependent.com/46495/big-sugar) summarized the sad reality of sugar growers: “They are unlike any other industry in Florida in that they aren’t in the agricultural business, they are in the corporate welfare business.”

Please enjoy “Big Candy’s Greed,” brought to you by the coddled, protected, price-supported, politically active U.S. sugar industry:

![Big Sugar Ad](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/wp-content/uploads/bigcandysgreed.jpg?itok=hvK4tNif) 

##### Related Tags 

[Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Trade Policy](https://www.cato.org/trade-policy), [Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies](https://www.cato.org/herbert-stiefel-center-trade-policy-studies), [Department of Agriculture](https://www.cato.org/department-agriculture), [Downsizing Government](https://www.cato.org/downsizing-government) 

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