WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Sept. 12 announced the third exchange of the summer of domestic sugar for re-export credits in continued attempts to reduce the sugar oversupply, and in this case, to dispose of sugar forfeited as collateral for loans that matured Aug. 31.

The U.S.D.A.’s Commodity Credit Corp. issued an invitation to exchange 77,451 tonnes (about 85,375 short tons) of sugar it owns as the result of the Aug. 31 forfeitures for credits held by refiners holding licenses under the Refined Sugar Re-export Program, similar to previous actions announced June 17 and July 23. Offers are due at 1:30 p.m. Central Time, Sept. 17, with successful participants notified no later than 1:30 p.m. the following day, the U.S.D.A. said.

The U.S.D.A. said the refined sugar re-export exchange option “is preferable at this time to other available inventory management options because it minimizes the cost of the sugar program. This exchange will reduce the sugar surplus by more than the C.C.C. sugar exchanged, which will reduce the incidence of future C.C.C. loan collateral forfeitures.”

About 600,000 tons of sugar are pledged as collateral for government loans that mature Sept. 30, according to the U.S.D.A. The earlier exchange actions removed 345,712 tonnes of import supply for 106,742 tonnes of C.C.C. inventory, the U.S.D.A. said.