TWIN FALLS — Domestic sugar consumption is big—nearly 11 million tons per year. And Idaho’s sugarbeet crop, refined by Amalgamated Sugar Co., produces 900,000 tons of sugar annually—about 8 percent of what Americans consume.
But how does that Idaho sugar make its way to consumers’ mouths?
Amalgamated Sugar, the second largest beet sugar producer in the U.S., sells its sugar through National Sugar Marketing, initially a partnership between Idaho’s sugar company and the Miami-based Sucden Americas Corp., a subsidiary of Paris-based Sucden Group.
By partnering, “we offered Sucden an opportunity into the U.S. domestic market,” said Robert Floor, regional sales manager for NSM and former sales representative for Amalgamated Sugar.
Amalgamated’s newest partner, Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative based in Renville, Minn., produces 600,000 tons of refined sugar annually. NSM handles all sales, customer service, transportation, invoicing and cash disbursement for the partners. The market for sugar is already there.