The European Commission hosted a meeting of a group of national experts on the sugar market and the civil dialogue group which is made up of stakeholders in the sector, on Tuesday 11 October, to plan the best possible provision for the transition towards the abolition of sugar quotas, scheduled for the end of September 2017.
The meeting heard a report from the International Sugar Organisation that EU prices are currently below world market levels and that there are definitely a range of opportunities on the world market for the European sector to increase exports in the coming years.
With a number of member states calling for some form of regulation in future (see EUROPE 11643), the Commission notes in a press release published on Wednesday 12 October that the decision to abolish sugar quotas was taken by the member states and the European Parliament in 2013.
At the Agriculture Council on Monday 10 October, European Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan said that the Commission attached “great importance to the sugar sector, not only with regard to food production but also for the jobs it creates and the supply of sustainable raw materials for the chemicals and energy industries”. The sugar sector needs a stable regulatory environment, he added. “It is precisely for that reason that the ending of quotas, which will take place in exactly one year’s time, has been carefully prepared”, he said.
The Commission set up a group of national experts on the sugar market charged with discussing the post-quota situation. In order better to monitor market trends, it launched a “scoreboard” at the start of 2016 with all the information necessary. The sector underwent in-depth restructuring between 2006 and 2010 to make it more competitive, the Commission noted. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)