Whenever marketing allotments are established for a crop year under section 1359cc of this title, in order to afford all interested persons an equitable opportunity to market sugar under an allotment, the Secretary shall allocate each such allotment among the processors covered by the allotment.
The Secretary shall make allocations for cane sugar after a hearing, if requested by the affected sugarcane processors and growers, and on such notice as the Secretary by regulation may prescribe, in such manner and in such quantities as to provide a fair, efficient, and equitable distribution of the allocations under this paragraph. Each such allocation shall be subject to adjustment under section 1359cc(g) of this title.
In the case of allotments under subparagraph (B) attributable to the operations of the Talisman processing facility before May 13, 2002, the Secretary shall allocate the allotment among processors in the State under subparagraph (A) in accordance with the agreements of March 25 and 26, 1999, between the affected processors and the Secretary of the Interior.
Notwithstanding subparagraphs (B) and (D), the Secretary, on application of any processor that begins processing sugarcane on or after May 13, 2002, and after a hearing (if requested by the affected sugarcane processors and growers) and on such notice as the Secretary by regulation may prescribe, may provide the processor with an allocation that provides a fair, efficient and equitable distribution of the allocations from the allotment for the State in which the processor is located.
Notwithstanding subparagraphs (A) and (C) of section 1359cc(e)(3) of this title, to accommodate an allocation under clause (i) to a new processor located in a new entrant mainland State, the Secretary shall provide the new entrant mainland State with an allotment.
The allotment to any new entrant mainland State shall be subtracted, on a pro rata basis, from the allotments otherwise allotted to each mainland State under section 1359cc(e)(3) of this title.
Before providing an initial processor allocation or State allotment to a new entrant processor or a new entrant State under this subparagraph, the Secretary shall take into consideration any adverse effects that the provision of the allocation or allotment may have on existing cane processors and producers in mainland States.
Consistent with section 1359cc of this title and this section, any processor allocation or State allotment made to a new entrant processor or to a new entrant State under this subparagraph shall be provided only after the applicant processor, or the applicable processors in the State, have demonstrated the ability to process, produce, and market (including the transfer or delivery of the raw cane sugar to a refinery for further processing or marketing) raw cane sugar for the crop year for which the allotment is applicable.
If a sugarcane processor is sold or otherwise transferred to another owner or is closed as part of an affiliated corporate group processing consolidation, the Secretary shall transfer the allotment allocation for the processor to the purchaser, new owner, successor in interest, or any remaining processor of an affiliated entity, as applicable, of the processor.
Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph and sections 1359cc(g), 1359ee(b), and 1359ff(b) of this title, the Secretary shall make allocations for beet sugar among beet sugar processors for each crop year that allotments are in effect on the basis of the adjusted weighted average quantity of beet sugar produced by the processors for each of the 1998 through 2000 crop years, as determined under this paragraph.
The quantity of an allocation made for a beet sugar processor for a crop year under subparagraph (A) shall bear the same ratio to the quantity of allocations made for all beet sugar processors for the crop year as the adjusted weighted average quantity of beet sugar produced by the processor (as determined under subparagraphs (C) and (D)) bears to the total of the adjusted weighted average quantities of beet sugar produced by all processors (as so determined).
If a processor of beet sugar (or all of the assets of the processor) is sold to another processor of beet sugar, the Secretary shall transfer the allocation of the seller to the buyer unless the allocation has been distributed to other sugar beet processors under subparagraph (E).
Subject to subparagraphs (E) and (F), if 1 or more factories of a processor of beet sugar (but not all of the assets of the processor) are sold to another processor of beet sugar during a crop year, the Secretary shall assign a pro rata portion of the allocation of the seller to the allocation of the buyer to reflect the historical contribution of the production of the sold 1 or more factories to the total allocation of the seller, unless the buyer and the seller have agreed upon the transfer of a different portion of the allocation of the seller, in which case, the Secretary shall transfer that portion agreed upon by the buyer and seller.
If the assignment of the allocation under clause (i) to the buyer for the 1 or more purchased factories cannot be filled by the production of the 1 or more purchased factories, the remainder of the allocation may be filled by beet sugar produced by the buyer from other factories of the buyer.
If a new entrant acquires an existing factory that has processed sugar beets from the 1998 or subsequent crop year and has a production history, on the mutual agreement of the new entrant and the company currently holding the allocation associated with the factory, the Secretary shall transfer to the new entrant a portion of the allocation of the current allocation holder to reflect the historical contribution of the production of the 1 or more sold factories to the total allocation of the current allocation holder, unless the new entrant and current allocation holder have agreed upon the transfer of a different portion of the allocation of the current allocation holder, in which case, the Secretary shall transfer that portion agreed upon by the new entrant and the current allocation holder.
In the absence of a mutual agreement described in subclause (I), the new entrant shall be ineligible for a beet sugar allocation.
Any decision made under this subsection may be appealed to the Secretary in accordance with section 1359ii of this title.