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LONDON, Sept 14 (Reuters) -
The British beet sugar production quota will be reduced by 23,305 tonnes,
or two percent, to a total of 1.121 million tonnes due to a cut in the
European Union quota, British Sugar Plc said on Thursday.
On Wednesday, the EU sugar
management committee agreed to cut the guaranteed production quota by
498,000 tonnes in 2000/01 (October/September) to comply with World Trade
Organization (WTO) curbs on subsidised exports.
The total EU sugar quota is
being reduced to 15.22 million tonnes from 14.72 million.
``The quota reduction is
smaller than the company expected and the net financial effect on British
Sugar is not significant,'' the company said in a statement.
The quota cut will be factored
into a review of manufacturing operations currently being undertaken, it
added.
British Sugar, a subsidiary of
Associated British Foods (quote from
Yahoo! UK & Ireland: ABF.L),
is the sole British manufacturer of beet sugar. It supplies about half the
British market with cane sugar producer Tate & Lyle (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: TATE.L)
providing the balance.
British Sugar exports
unsubsidised, or so-called ``C'' quota sugar, because all its quota sugar
is taken by the domestic market. |