Sugar exporters want sweeter deal in US

Australia's sugar exporters want the United States to be pressured into cutting trade barriers as part of a new multi-national trade agreement.

Negotiations for a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal among 12 countries will continue in the US this week, with expectations a deal could be struck after six years of talks.

The Australian Sugar Industry Alliance has sent two representatives to Washington to lobby Australian government officials involved in the negotiations.

The group's trade committee chairman, Paul Schembri, says the US has restrictive quotas on Australian sugar.

"We see the TPP as perhaps the last opportunity to gain meaningful market access for sugar," Mr Schembri told AAP.

"It's ironic that the US supports such a heavily protectionist system at home when it rails against such structures in Canada and is looking to open access to Japan's agricultural markets."

Australia produces 4.6 million tonnes of raw sugar annually and more than 70 per cent is exported.

The National Farmers Federation has also urged the federal government to push for ambitious outcomes for the nation's farmers.

"It is critically important that as these trade talks progress over the next week, the benefits that the Australian farm and agribusiness sector might derive are foremost in the mind of Australia's negotiators," NFF president Brent Finlay said.