A possible initiative of Coca-Cola and other sectors of sugarcane sugar drinks and foods instead of corn syrup as a sweetener would be difficult to implement, as well as being negative for US farmers.
United States President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Coca-Cola had agreed to use sugarcane sugar in their beverages in the country after conversations with the manufacturer of the main soda brand.
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Supported by the social movement Make America Healthy Again (Maha), Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been pressuring changes in ingredients used by the food and beverage industry, claiming that proposed substitutes are healthier.
The company already sells Coca-Cola with sugarcane sugar in other markets, including Mexico, and some US supermarkets sell sugarcane-labeled glass bottles like “Mexican” coke.
In response to Trump’s comment, Coca-Cola said that “more details about new innovative offers on our Coca-Cola product line will be shared soon.”
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Pepsico also said on Thursday that it would use sugar on its products, such as Pepsi drinks, if consumers wanted.
Industry analysts, however, said changes in the formulation of the rest of Coca-Cola soft drinks sold in the US, as well as other drinks and sweets, would involve significant adjustments to corporate supply chains, as corn syrup and sugar come from different producers. This would also involve changes in product labeling and cost more.
“Food and beverage industries have begun to use US corn syrup in the past because of costs. It’s cheaper than sugar,” said Sosland Publishing senior editor Ron Sterk, a US ingredient information provider.
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He said the beverage sector uses 55% fructose corn syrup, or 55hfcs, while bakers use 42% HFCs syrup.
Corn Refiners Association said the complete elimination of high food and beverage supply corn syrup would reduce corn prices by up to 34 cents for Bushel, resulting in a loss of $ 5.1 billion in agricultural revenue.
“The resulting economic shock wave would lead to loss of rural jobs and significant economic consequences for communities across the country,” CRA said.
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Agricultural processing companies such as Archer-Daniels-Midland and Ingredion, two of the largest HFC producers, Moiem Milk in Midwestern Agricultural Belt to produce corn sweetener and other products such as ethanol. The actions of the two companies fell on Thursday.
ADM is estimated to distribute 4.5 billion pounds of high fructose corn syrup every year, representing about 6% to 7% of the profits projected for 2026, Heather Jones Research’s analyst Heather Jones said.
“If Coca-Cola transferred all its use of HF55 to sugarcane, the cost increase would probably exceed $ 1 billion, given the current price difference between HF55 and sugarcane sugar and the likelihood of very large sugar price increases,” Jones said in a note.
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To produce an HFC pound, the sector uses about 2.5 pounds of corn, so that a major change in US corn syrup use would impair demand for cereal, damaging corn producers, while probably increasing sugarcane sugar imports, as there is not enough production in the US to satisfy US consumption.
Sugar deficit
About 400 million corn bushels are used annually to make corn syrup for drinks and other food products, representing about 2.5% of US corn production, according to US government data.
The US produces about 3.6 million tons of sugarcane sugar per year, half of this in Trump’s home state, Florida, compared to about 7.3 million tons of corn syrup.
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Trump’s continuous commercial wars, however, would make it difficult to cover the deficit, said sugar analyst Michael McDougall.
“It will probably come from Brazil,” he said, referring to the world’s largest sugar sugar producer, “but Trump has just imposed a 50%import tariff.”
