Sugar During World War II

Sugar was in shorter supply than most other foods in the United States throughout nearly all of World War II. It was the first food to be rationed after the outbreak of war and the only one not removed from ration control before 1946. The shortage of sugar existed in varying degrees in most of the United Nations and was generally more serious for our European allies than for the United States. This shortage of sugar was in marked contrast to the situation in prewar years when sugar was abundant and prices were extremely low from the producers' standpoint. The wartime shortage in the United States had a combination of causes. It was largely the result of the loss of supplies normally produced in the Philippine Islands and Java, the reduced production in Europe, particularly Russia, three years of small crops of beet sugar in the United States beginning in 1943, and a very short Cuban crop of sugarcane in 1945. In addition, the use of sugar to make industrial alcohol which was needed in previously unheard of quantities largely because of the program for making synthetic rubber further reduced the amount of sugar produced for use as food