Alum is a salt that in chemistry is a combination of an alkali metal, such as sodium, potassium, or ammonium and a trivalent metal, such as aluminum, iron, or chromium.
USDA allocates a share of the anticipated U.S. sugar market to sugar producers annually. This allotment basically determines the amount of sugar an individual company is allowed to sell that year. However, these allotments can be, and often are, adjusted based on harvest conditions.
Unlike most other producing countries, the United States has both large and well-developed sugarcane and sugar beet industries. Since the mid-1990s, sugarcane has accounted for about 45 percent of the total sugar produced domestically, and sugar beets for about 55 percent of production.