Brussels, 12/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - As announced, a series of measures were adopted on Thursday 12 April by the EU management committee to resolve the problem of fluidity and high prices on the European sugar market over recent months. The measures will be published in coming days in the EU Official Journal. Roger Waite, the spokesman for Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos, has said: “The Commission is responding to the continued increase in the internal sugar price, and we will continue to monitor the market closely.”
For the 2011/2012 marketing year, the Commission has therefore agreed to release 250,000 additional tonnes of out-of-quota sugar onto the European market, at reduced duty. The rate applied, namely €211/tonne, corresponds to the difference between the EU price (€701/tonne as a monthly average) and the monthly world market price of €490/tonne. The maximum weekly application quantities per operator are fixed at 50,000 tonnes. The so-called “out-of-quota” sugar refers to sugar produced in the EU in addition to the national sugar quota volumes within the EU. It relates to sugar that can only be exported within the WTO maximum limit of 1.374 million tonnes, and for industrial purposes only (bioethanol) or carried over (used as the first production of the following year's quota). If placed on the EU market in the year of production, a surplus levy/duty of €500/tonne applies.
The second measure taken for 2011/2012 is to advance the three tenders for imports of sugar to 2 May, 23 May and 6 June (instead of the dates initially set: 6 June, 27 June and 11 July). Imports may relate to all kinds of sugar (raw and white). It should be noted that, during the 2011/2012 marketing year, the Commission released 400,000 tonnes of out-of-quota sugar onto the market, with a reduced duty of €85/tonne (difference between the EU price and the world market price at the time) and authorised the importation of 191,000 tonnes of raw sugar at reduced duty.
The EU Single CMO management committee also endorsed two regulations for the 2012/2013 marketing year: (1) opening of a zero duty TRQ (tariff-rate quota) for 400,000 tonnes of sugar for industrial purposes; (2) and the fixing of the export limit for out-of-quota sugar at 650,000 tonnes. These two measures are normal at this time of the year.
Sugar needs estimated at 16.5 million tonnes. The European sugar production quota is 13.3 million tonnes, while needs in sugar are estimated at 16.5 million tonnes (consumption of 15.9 million and positive export balance of 0.6 million tonnes of sugar used in processed products). During this marketing year (2011/2012), out-of-quota sugar production is estimated at 5.3 million tonnes. According to the current regulatory framework, the EU imports 1 million tonnes of sugar within certain import quotas, and is expected to import around 2 million tonnes of sugar under the duty free quota free provisions for the least developed countries (LDC) and ACP countries. (LC/transl.jl)