Trump’s Coca Cola post tanked share prices for high fructose corn syrup makers
- President Donald Trump posted on social media Coca-Cola executives had agreed to only use real cane sugar for products in the U.S. Even though Coca-Cola didn’t explicitly confirm the change, share prices for companies that manufacture the sweetener sank on Thursday.
President Donald Trump yet again demonstrated the power of a presidential social media post.
Share prices of two major high fructose corn syrup manufacturers dropped after the president announced Coca Cola had agreed to use real cane sugar in products in the U.S.
The stock prices of Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM) and Ingredion dropped 6% and 7%, respectively, between Wednesday and Thursday.
When the market opened on Thursday, both companies’ share prices had recovered from the off-hours lows. Nonetheless, they remained below the previous day’s closing price. Chicago-based ADM saw its stock down 2% at the time of publication. Ingredion sank as much as 4% in the earliest trading hours.
Trump announced the decision about which sweetener Coca-Cola would use in a social media post on Wednesday about 10 minutes before the market closed. The president said he’d been in touch with executives at Coca-Cola about the matter.
“I’d like to thank all of those in authority at Coca-Cola,” Trump wrote. “This will be a very good move by them—You’ll see. It’s just better!”
Coca-Cola did not commit to whether the decision had been fully agreed to.
“We appreciate President Trump’s enthusiasm for our iconic Coca-Cola brand,” a company spokesperson told Fortune. “More details on new innovative offerings within our Coca-Cola product range will be shared soon.”
That back and forth didn’t stop the president’s comments from taking their toll on Ingredion and ADM. The two companies create various ingredients for food companies and have had tumultuous stock performances in the aftermath of Trump’s April tariff announcement.
Over the last year, ADM is down 19%, though it’s been on a recovery track since early April following the rollout of the U.S.’s new tariff policy. Year-to-date, ADM is up 5%, even withstanding the recent drop. Ingredion is up 8% over the last 12 months. But its stock price has struggled so far this year, down 5%, as it has yet to recover from taking a beating in the aftermath of Trump’s original tariff announcement.
ADM is one of the largest agricultural companies in the U.S., with a market cap of $25 billion. It has a diverse set of businesses spanning the industry like human and animal food products, agricultural processing units, and a commodities trading desk.
Ingredion is a more specialized company that focuses specifically on ingredients like sweeteners, flours, and starches that go into food products. High fructose corn syrup accounts for roughly 8% of Ingredion’s total sales, according to a May report from Morningstar. In 2024, Ingredion had $7.4 billion in net sales. Based on Morningstar’s calculations, high fructose corn syrup would amount to roughly $594 million in sales.
ADM and Ingredion did not respond to Fortune’s requests for comment.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com