With the date for the abolition of beet sugar production quotas – 1 October 2017 – fast approaching, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) adopted an own initiative report on 14 September in which it calls for EU duties on sugar to be maintained.
The ending of beet sugar production quotas will provide the EU’s sugar industry with the possibility of unlimited sugar exports. “This is an enormous chance for Europe’s sugar producers, but in order to fully profit from this liberalisation, they need the European Commission’s full support”, said José Manuel Roche Ramo, rapporteur for the EESC opinion.
He called on the Commission to be more active in supporting Europe’s sugar industry. In negotiating free-trade agreements (FTAs), the Commission must focus on opening the sugar markets of net sugar importers and eliminating duties on exports of EU high sugar-containing products, he argued. “At the same time, it should back strong rules of origin for such products to ensure that EU sugar producers benefit from increased exports”, he added.
End of quotas. The EESC proposes including market tools in the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) that support continued sugar production in the EU member states, said co-rapporteur Estelle Brentnall (Belgium).
Coupled support may be necessary to reduce the risk of a decline or abandoning of beet sugar production, while direct support for farmers should be supplemented by better access to risk management. Aid for private storage must be better defined and alternative outlets for sugar beet should be promoted.
Caution on liberalising trade. EU market availability for cane sugar for refining from the EU’s FTA partners – Central America, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and South Africa – stands at 420,000 tonnes. Raw and white sugar from the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and from the least-developed countries may be imported duty-free and quota-free. Moreover, the annual availability of raw sugar for refining under the reduced-duty CXL quota is over 700,000 tonnes and is set to rise to 800,000 tonnes in 2017-18.
The EESC believes the EU would be well advised to be more cautious regarding trade liberalisation in negotiations for new free-trade agreements. “The Commission must treat sugar as sensitive in its free trade negotiations by maintaining the EU's duties on sugar”, it argues.
The EESC calls on the Commission to challenge the arbitrary imposition of trade-defence instruments by third-country importers and to be more assertive in the fight against the trade-distorting support policies of the world’s major sugar producers.
With annual output of around 17.2 million tonnes, the EU is the world’s leading producer of beet sugar. Over the last decade, nearly half of its sugar factories have closed. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)