Trump’s cane sugar push for Coca-Cola faces supply chain hurdles
The rollout of Coke made with US cane sugar is slow due to supply limits and business realities
[WASHINGTON] President Donald Trump pushed Coca-Cola to make Coke using US cane sugar. The problem is, the soda maker cannot get its hands on enough sugar or production capacity to roll it out widely.
In an interview with Bloomberg News on Tuesday (Oct 21), chief financial officer John Murphy said the beverage maker is beginning to roll out Coke made with American cane sugar, but that it is limited by the US supply of cane sugar and its ability to ramp up production in glass bottles.
“It’s going to be a measured roll-out,” Murphy said. “There is only a certain amount of cane sugar available in the US.”
Murphy’s comments underscore the challenges US companies face when they try to bend the realities of business operations to Trump’s whims.
In addition to contending with tariffs, whipsawing trade policy and the government shutdown’s looming impact on food aid payments, food companies are also under pressure to switch to more natural ingredients.
Trump announced in a Truth Social post earlier this year that Coca-Cola planned to unveil a new Coke product made with US cane sugar. The company later followed up saying it would make a new drink with US cane sugar this fall.
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Coca-Cola relies on high fructose corn syrup, which is cheaper than cane sugar, to sweeten its signature product in the US. However, a pricier version of the soft drink that uses cane sugar imported from Mexico had been building a following.
US cane sugar production accounts for roughly 30 per cent of the nation’s sugar supply, according to the US Department of Agriculture. The remainder comes from sugar beets, as well as imports from Mexico and other countries.
Murphy said in addition to sugar supply, ramping up production capacity in glass bottles is a limiting factor in the new soda roll out.
“If you look at the success of Mexican Coke in the US, it’s a combination of the product and the package and we’re very keen to offer that same combination using American cane sugar,” Murphy said.
The ability to produce the new US drink in glass bottles needs to expand in order to more widely distribute the new soda, Murphy said, since it differs from the process used with cans.
For now, the company is planning a “phased roll out” that will be starting in a few markets in a number of stores before it plans to scale going into 2026. BLOOMBERG
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