Brussels, 10/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 12 April, the European Commission is expected to submit to the Management Committee draft measures to supply the EU market with sugar, similar to measures taken last year, which allowed the production of a suggested 200,000 or 250,000 tonnes of sugar outside quotas, along with import quotas.
The Committee of European Sugar Users (CIUS), which represents the agri-food industry, welcomes the fact that the Commission has taken action to release sugar onto the market, but “is disappointed that the European Commission intends to apply high levies and tariffs that will support unjustified inflationary pressure on the market and penalise sugar users, in particular the EU's SME manufacturers.” High charges will be levied on “reclassified” non-tariff sugar, explained the CIUS secretary general, Muriel Korter, to this newsletter. CIUS wants a balance to be struck between reclassification (of non-quota sugar as within-quota sugar) and sugar imports. In order for a sufficient amount of sugar to be available on the market, CIUS says that around 3.5 million tonnes of sugar need to be stocked at the end of the season (which amounts to 20% of total sugar consumption) in order to have any effect o the market. These 3.5 million tonnes need to be fairly divided into non-quota sugar that has been reclassified as within-quota sugar and additional sugar imports.
Analysis of the sugar market shows that there are supply problems in some regions, particularly for small businesses, and high prices in some EU member states. (LC/transl.fl)