Halloween Candy Sales Not So Sweet for the American Sugar Alliance 

Soundbite and Script

October 27, 2011 

ANNOUNCER: 

this halloween, Shoppers won’t be scared off by a rocky economic outlook.  the national retail federation is predicting that the appetite for candy is certain to be a treat for America’s thriving confectionery industry.  estimates say that the average American CONSUMER will spend 21-dollars and five cents on candy this holiday, up almost four percent from last year. But Jack Roney, an economist with the American Sugar Alliance, says sugar farmers won’t see much of that spending frenzy. 

JACK RONEY: 

 “Of the 21-dollars each shopper will spend, only 62-cents will go to U.S. sugar producers.  That’s not 62-cents of profit.  That 62-cents has to cover the cost of purchasing the sugarbeets and sugarcane, turning them into edible sugar and then shipping the final product to candy companies across the country.” 

ANNOUNCER: 

Roney said this illustrates how sweet of a deal American consumers and food manufacturers get on sugar.  And the best part, he noted, is that the sugar policy that underpins it all doesn’t cost taxpayers a dime.  I’M LEE SHEPHARD.