CAFTA Is an Issue at Candy Show

A sticky debate over free trade soured the U.S. candy industry’s annual trade show in Chicago on Wednesday, pitting candy makers against sugar growers and labor unions.

Unions and their supporters, protesting during the All Candy Expo, say the proposed Central American Free Trade Agreement will endanger more candy factory jobs. They already blame an exodus of candy factory jobs on the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement.

But the makers of jelly beans, licorice twists and lollipops say lower sugar prices will save U.S. jobs.

“We don’t know why the sugar people have a virtual monopoly on sugar in this country,” said William Kelley, vice chairman of the Fairfield, Calif.-based Jelly Belly Candy Co. “Nobody is protecting the candy business ... and we have candy coming to this country from all over the world -- tariff free.”

Roughly 40% of the hard candy consumed in the U.S. is imported, compared with 10% a dozen years ago, a spokeswoman for the National Confectioners Assn. said. Candy companies blame the exodus of jobs on sugar prices, which they say are kept artificially high by a import quota system. The price of sugar in the U.S. is about 2 1/2 times the world price of about 10 cents a pound, the trade groups said.

The debate echoes one taking place in Washington, where the candy industry this week urged U.S. lawmakers to pass the agreement. The pact cleared its first hurdle in the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

Intense lobbying by sugar producers and labor groups have cast a cloud over CAFTA’s approval. CAFTA would lower barriers to U.S. exports to Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic and lock in preferential access those countries have in the U.S. market.

The agreement will gradually lower U.S. sugar import quotas and decimate the U.S. sugar industry, producers say.

But candy makers say CAFTA is essential to their survival.