What to Know About the Looming Sugar Shortage

Sugar shortages have hit the U.S.—and they might mean that it costs you way more to stock your bowls with Halloween candy this year.

Thanks to a sour combination of sugar shortages, import restrictions, and international competition, candy companies’ costs are rising just months before the Halloween season, The Wall Street Journal reports. Candy producers are blaming a U.S. agricultural policy that requires 85% of sugar comes from domestic producers, limiting sugar sourcing options for candy producers when U.S. farmers can’t make enough. Axios has reported that the National Confectioners Association is trying to reform this program with the help of lawmakers. 

But sugar farmers and processors—who have already had a difficult year due to the ongoing climate crisis—depend on that policy to keep their livelihoods afloat. And the U.S. isn’t the only nation struggling with a sugar shortage: Malaysia, Britain, and India are seeing low supply levels for the sweet stuff too. No matter how you cut the cake, there isn’t enough sugar—but our demand hasn’t slowed one bit.

Raw cane sugar prices have increased to more than 42 cents per pound in the U.S. in May—the highest price since January 2011, according to USDA data—and the national sugar supply could decline by more than 2% during the next crop year.Moreover, Axios reported that sugar and sweets were up 11% in cost in June compared to last year. And Nidhi Jain, a specialist at business intelligence firm The Smart Cube company, told The Takeout that the impacts of El Niño could reduce sugarcane yield even more on a global level.

“The intensity of the dry season that El Niño is set to influence this year could result in a 10%–15% reduction in sugarcane yield globally,” Jain told