Children receive treats by candy chutes while trick-or-treating for Halloween in Woodlawn Heights on October 31, 2020 in New York City. The CDC shared on their website alternative ways to still celebrate the holiday while being safe.
Halloween is just around the corner. However, experts warned that this yearly celebration could be negatively affected by the ongoing sugar shortage.
Because of extreme weather, such as drought and heavy rains, the sugar industry across the world is having a hard time generating enough sugar for sweet products.
Now, here's what the ongoing worldwide sugar shortage means for Halloween celebrations across the globe, including in the United States.
Global Sugar Shortage Could Drastically Affect US Halloween Celebration
According to FOX Weather's latest report, top sugar-producing countries are suffering extreme weather conditions, forcing them to cut their production.
These include India (2nd), the U.S. (6th), and Europe (3rd), which all experienced heavy floods. Meanwhile, Thailand (4th) is also suffering from drought.
"This has been a very tough year for global sugar. If you look at the top ten producing countries this year, six of them have had extreme weather," said John Davis, Evertream Analytics' chief meteorologist.
"And the ramification of that is higher prices for anything that you use sugar for, including candy," he added.
Based on its findings, Everstream claimed that the global sugar supply will decrease by 10% to 15% from 2023 to 2024 growing seasons because of the extreme drought.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration also estimated that the global sugar production for the season will only be around 188 million tons.
If this continues, then candies and other products that use sugar will become more expensive. This would certainly affect the trick-or-treating of Americans and other people across the globe who will celebrate Halloween month.
Read Also: Halloween, the Dark History More Than Ghosts or Goblins and Black Cats
What Americans Can Do During Halloween
Halloween decorations are seen on display during the Great Jack OLantern Blaze in Croton-on-Hudson, New York on October 22, 2020, featuring over 7,000 hand-carved, illuminated pumpkins set against the mysterious backdrop of Van Cortlandt Manors 17th-century buildings and riverside landscape.
If you think that sugar is only used for candies, baked goods, and other sweet products, think again.
Sugar is actually being used as a preservative as well. This means that companies are putting sugar in their wound care, medicine, cosmetics, paper, and other products.
This means that there's a chance that the sugar supplies from the U.S. and other countries could become more scarce.
If you are worried that there won't be enough candies for the Halloween season, then here are some alternatives, provided by Woman's Day, that you can give to kids for trick-or-treating:
- Crayons
- Mini Puzzles
- Lip Balm
- Elastic Toys
- Silly Strays
- Pop Fidget Toys
- Slime
- Hair Scrunchies
- Slinkies
These are just some of the exciting things you can give to children if you run out of candies at home. If you want to learn more details about other candy alternatives, you can click this link.
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