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BumRushDaShow

(157,405 posts)
Wed Jul 23, 2025, 04:05 PM Jul 23

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-Cola’s 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

13 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Coke's New Cane-Sweetened Soda Risks Upending Sugar Supplies (Original Post) BumRushDaShow Jul 23 OP
Mexican Coke tastes better hueymahl Jul 23 #1
Pepsi has had it for their domestic soda as an option since 2009 BumRushDaShow Jul 23 #2
Glass Bottles MissouriDem47 Jul 23 #5
Reusable glass bottles Retrograde Jul 23 #7
Agree With Your Comment MissouriDem47 Jul 23 #8
I agree! I buy Mexican Coke every once in a while and love it. HeartsCanHope Jul 24 #10
Just add the cocaine back in it too Bayard Jul 23 #3
The "Coca-Cola had cocaine in it" bit is overblown OKIsItJustMe Jul 24 #12
Michigans sugar beet crop is way above average this year. multigraincracker Jul 23 #4
It's all poison. Refined sugar of all kinds, truthisfreedom Jul 23 #6
It's worse than you think womanofthehills Jul 23 #9
Remember C and H Sugar? BidenRocks Jul 24 #11
They sustained it for decades before we started subsidizing corn farms. JohnnyRingo Jul 24 #13

hueymahl

(2,821 posts)
1. Mexican Coke tastes better
Wed Jul 23, 2025, 04:25 PM
Jul 23

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)
2. Pepsi has had it for their domestic soda as an option since 2009
Wed Jul 23, 2025, 04:45 PM
Jul 23

They have updated the branding and logos over that time. The current looks like this -

MissouriDem47

(236 posts)
5. Glass Bottles
Wed Jul 23, 2025, 08:06 PM
Jul 23

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)
7. Reusable glass bottles
Wed Jul 23, 2025, 09:45 PM
Jul 23

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)
8. Agree With Your Comment
Wed Jul 23, 2025, 10:21 PM
Jul 23

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)
10. I agree! I buy Mexican Coke every once in a while and love it.
Thu Jul 24, 2025, 12:08 AM
Jul 24

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.

OKIsItJustMe

(21,512 posts)
12. The "Coca-Cola had cocaine in it" bit is overblown
Thu Jul 24, 2025, 12:55 AM
Jul 24

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

truthisfreedom

(23,440 posts)
6. It's all poison. Refined sugar of all kinds,
Wed Jul 23, 2025, 09:14 PM
Jul 23

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)
9. It's worse than you think
Wed Jul 23, 2025, 10:42 PM
Jul 23

95% of our sugar crop is sprayed with Roundup right before harvest for even drying and sweeter sugar. So it’s 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)
11. Remember C and H Sugar?
Thu Jul 24, 2025, 12:23 AM
Jul 24

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)
13. They sustained it for decades before we started subsidizing corn farms.
Thu Jul 24, 2025, 02:06 AM
Jul 24

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.

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