Corn Syrup Use Declines as Food Makers Ditch HFCS

Food manufacturers are quietly shifting away from high fructose corn syrup and back toward traditional sugars like cane and beet sugar. A report from CoBank's Knowledge Exchange reveals that corn syrup deliveries fell 3.5% in the first half of the current marketing year, while cane and beet sugar deliveries rose 0.11%. This trend marks a continuation of declining corn syrup use since its peak in 1999 at 552 million bushels.

The shift doesn't reflect Americans eating less sweetener - per capita consumption remains flat, tracking with population growth. Instead, food companies are reformulating recipes to use traditional sugar rather than corn-based alternatives. CoBank identifies additional long-term risks to sweetener demand, including GLP-1 weight loss medications, which could lead to further declines.

The impact of this shift is localized for corn farmers, particularly in Iowa and Illinois where corn wet milling concentrates. Refiners running fewer hours bid less aggressively for local corn, affecting nearby producers' basis levels without changing broader market prices.