Oh Cargill, when you aren’t recalling millions of pounds of tainted turkey meat, you’re giving your customers bad news about the rising price of corn sweeteners.

According to Reuters, Cargill recently sent out a letter to its customers saying that it can’t yet give them pricing for corn sweeteners for calendar year 2012, it does expect that the cost will rise significantly.

“The persistent increase in demand, which has significantly tightened capacity utilization … along with significant increases in raw materials, will be reflective of a minimum 30 percent price increase for calendar year 2012,” reads the letter. “[F]actors such as weather, income growth in the developing world and dangerously low U.S. feed grain stocks, had created conditions never before seen in our corn wet milling business.”

Given the prevalence of sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup in many packaged foods — it’s often listed right after water on most soft drink’s ingredients list — this news should have a noticeable effect on your bottom line at the grocery store.

Corn sweetener to cost 30% more next year, Cargill warns [ChicagoTribune.com]

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