For all the fuss made over sugar prices, two things have remained true during periods of both rock-bottom prices and price recoveries. 

First, you can walk into just about any restaurant in America and use as many packets of sugar as you want for no extra charge.  And second, candy makers spend than they do on sugar.

All of this is great news for grocery shoppers.

According to the annual Sugar Price Survey published by the American Sugar Alliance (ASA) at this week's International Sweetener Symposium, "Even though the world recently experienced some of the biggest sugar price swings in history, and U.S. prices rose and then began a descent back to traditional levels, consumers have barely noticed."

In fact, the survey of numerous packaged foods found that the price of most sugar-containing products, such as cake, frosting, ice cream, and gelatin dropped in 2010.  The lone exception was candy, which experienced an uptick in price by as much as 10 cents per candy bar.

Considering those candy bars contain about two-cents worth of sugar, ingredient costs don't explain the 10-cent boost.  An increase in demand and greater company profits appear to be the culprit.

So why doesn't the sugar market move the pricing needle at your neighborhood grocer?

The best explanation, according to the ASA study, was provided by a Pepsi spokesperson in a July 2, 2006 article in the New York Times.  "The cost of the sweetener in the product is extremely minimal to the point of not even mattering, " he said.

His words seem to be holding true.

During the price survey, ASA found that Pepsi Throwback, the company's popular premium brand that's sweetened with all-natural sugar, costs $6.59 for a 12-pack of cans.  Ditto for regular Pepsi (high fructose corn syrup), Diet Pepsi (aspartame), Pepsi One (Splenda), and Pepsi Max (aspartame and ginseng).

Clearly, sweetener costs don't register at the checkout counter.  And, in case you were wondering, ASA points out that there's only 40-cents worth of sugar in the entire $6.59 Pepsi Throwback 12-pack.

Pepsi is not alone.  Here's a look at some other sugar and sugar-free products examined by the ASA:

[PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION]