Brussels, 29/08/2002 (Agence Europe) - In a report published on 22 August, the NGO Oxfam states that the common organisation of the market for sugar is devastating the livelihoods of many farmers in developing countries. It consequently calls for a drastic reform of the sector that includes the abolition of quota exports and immediate and full access to imports from the least developed countries through the "Everything but Arms" (EBA) initiative.
The Oxfam report, entitled "The Great EU Sugar Scam", accuses the Community of putting pressure on poor countries to open their markets while protecting its own through customs duties and subsidies. This policy is an example of the "blatant hypocrisy of Europe in its dealings with developing countries", says the NGO. According to Oxfam, the EU exports its sugar at prices around 50 to 65% less than the high prices guaranteed under the common agricultural policy (CAP), i.e. far below real production costs. These sales are possible through export subsidies that cost the Community nearly € 1.6 billion a year, continues Oxfam, explaining that "thanks to a bewildering array of open and disguised subsidies, the EU, one of the world's highest cost producers of sugar, is the world's biggest exporter of white sugar, accounting for 40% of world exports last year".
Oxfam accuses the Community system of restricting market access (Mozambique has allegedly lost the chance to earn € 108 million by 2004 due to lobbying by certain European enterprises, such as British Sugar), undercutting export opportunities (the NGO states that in 2001, the EU exported 77,000 tonnes of white sugar to Algeria and 150,000 tonnes to Nigeria) and destabilizing world prices (through high export subsidies).
For its part, the Commission claims that the EU is complying with the spirit of WTO rules for the sector and that it is the world's biggest sugar importer (importing more than € 900 million worth of sugar in 2000, of which 680 million from developing countries at zero or "very low" duties, i.e. more than Australia, Canada, Japan and the United States put together). It also points out that the Community is opening its market to the most impoverished countries through the "Everything but Arms" initiative.
"False information", according to Copa-Cogeca
The EU agricultural organisations Copa and Cogeca commented on Wednesday that Oxfam had published "false information". They responded with the following arguments: - import quotas for the developing countries can be increased by 15% a year at the conclusion of a transitional period; - Europe imports 2 million tonnes of sugar under "very generous" conditions from poor Asian, Pacific and Caribbean countries; - the European export system is financed by European farmers themselves through a production levy. "Rather than launching critical attacks against European agriculture, Oxfam should demand that other developed countries follow the extremely positive European development policy, especially in agriculture," conclude Copa and Cogeca, who add that European imports of agricultural products from the developing countries amount to almost € 40 billion, "which is an overwhelming world record".