Coke's New Cane-Sweetened Soda Risks Upending Sugar Supplies
Source: Bloomberg
July 23, 2025 at 7:00 AM EDT
Updated on July 23, 2025 at 12:33 PM EDT
After four decades drinking Coca-Cola sweetened with corn syrup, Americans are going to get the chance to buy the soda made from domestic cane sugar. But whether US farmers can meet that demand is unclear.
Coca-Cola Co. said Tuesday it will launch the new Coke variety this fall, a week after President Donald Trump said the company had agreed to start using the sweetener.
The move is hardly an outlandish idea. In fact, Coke sold in other countries like Mexico is sweetened with cane sugar. And the company relied on cane sugar before switching to high fructose corn syrup around 1980. While the company will still be using corn syrup for original Coke, the addition of a domestic cane-based soda could help growers in Louisiana and Florida at a time when demand has been slow.
However, a sustained bump in demand especially if other companies follow Coca-Colas lead risks outstripping homegrown availability. US cane only makes up about 30% of overall domestic sugar supplies, according to the US Department of Agriculture. The rest comes from imports, which were about 2.2 million metric tons for the 2025-26 season, and American-grown sugar beets that perform better in colder climates.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-07-23/coke-s-new-cane-sweetened-soda-risks-upending-us-sugar-supplies

hueymahl
(2,821 posts)And I swear its because of the cane sugar. That and maybe because its in glass bottles.
Corn syrup has all kinds of issues, with tons of chemicals being used to grow and process it. Sounds like a win-win.
BumRushDaShow
(157,405 posts)They have updated the branding and logos over that time. The current looks like this -
MissouriDem47
(236 posts)Has my vote. They should get rid of the plastic and the cans and go back to glass bottles. The product taste better and it would be a benefit for the environment.
Retrograde
(11,219 posts)with a deposit that is redeemable when the bottle is returned - if we could do it in the 60s and 70s surely we can do it again. (As kids we used to scour the streets and vacant lots looking for discarded bottles- that was money just lying there)
MissouriDem47
(236 posts)Although I didn't spell it out, when I wrote that it would be better for the environment I was talking about glass bottles like in the old days with a deposit and redeemable when returned.
HeartsCanHope
(1,170 posts)The cane sugar and glass bottles are what I remember as a child from vending machines and picnics. I liked Pepsi-Cola better, but back then a soda was a soda! Always a treat and not a part of our every day diet.
Bayard
(26,193 posts)Sounds like more trump Mafia tactics.
OKIsItJustMe
(21,512 posts)The creator of the secret formula was a Civil War veteran, a pharmacist and morphine addict (as many wounded veterans were.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stith_Pemberton
He attempted to develop a palatable way to break his morphine addiction. His 1886 formula included coca leaves. He was partially successful. His formula was palatable, but he remained a morphine addict.
Desperate for money, he sold the business in 1888. His successor cut the amount of coca leaves, and in 1904 switched to spent coca leaves (leaves which had been processed to produce cocaine.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola#Coca_leaf
Ironically. Coca-Cola got in trouble with the feds not over cocaine, but because of the amount of caffeine it contained.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola#Kola_nuts_for_caffeine
multigraincracker
(36,050 posts)We will rescue the country.
truthisfreedom
(23,440 posts)Whether corn syrup, cane or beet sugar, is all poison. America drinks massive amounts of this stuff all day and when combined with other ultra-processed foods we are becoming a dangerously obese nation.
womanofthehills
(10,079 posts)95% of our sugar crop is sprayed with Roundup right before harvest for even drying and sweeter sugar. So its double gross.
Mexico uses Roundup too but way less than we do. I might prefer a Mexican Coke made with Mexican sugar cane than one made with American sugar.
BidenRocks
(1,888 posts)The H left the sugar business. The final Hawaiian sugar was the 2016 crop.
The C in Crockett Ca. processes domestic cane.
Brazil and Vietnam are major exporters.
Got tariffs?
JohnnyRingo
(20,079 posts)I like it so much I've been buying Mexican Coke but it's expensive. It tastes like the Coke of my youth.
Pepsi also offers a drink with cane sugar. So do craft sodas like Jones and Hank's. Besides, zero sugar has been catching on with many people so I don't believe it will tax the sugar supplies like they say.
This is probably a bullshit excuse to double the price of cane.