ASHEVILLE, Aug 8: The current US sugar programme may need to change when the next Farm Bill is debated by the US Congress, an industry official said on Tuesday. Randy Green, the president of the Sweetener Users Association which has long criticised the US sugar programme, said the group recognises the need for producers to have something new in place.

“We do feel strongly that it should change, to respond to growing external pressures and to achieve a more workable policy for the entire industry,” he said in a speech at the annual meeting of the American Sugar Alliance, an industry group.

He said the prospect of an open sugar market will have to be faced in 2008 when there will be a likely budget crunch and when Mexico can export -- unfettered -- all of its sugar to the US under the North American Free Trade Agreement.—Reuters