| LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - The European sugar industry is
deeply concerned by a proposal to allow duty-free access for sugar from
the world's poorest countries, despite a proposed delay, a senior U.K.
sugar industry official said on Wednesday.
British and European sugar producers, growers and suppliers have
protested that EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy's "Everything But
Arms" (EBA) plan announced last year would trigger a flood of cheap
imports and destroy the EU sugar industry.
The proposal extends duty-free access to all products, except weapons,
from the 48 least developed countries (LDCs).
Following intense industry lobbying, the European Commission proposed
on Wednesday that free sugar access be phased in between 2006-2008, five
years later than originally envisaged.
"It's of marginal help but we can't concede the principle of
allowing in sugar without assessing the damaging implications for the EU
and UK sugar industries," Chris Carter, Director of Agriculture at
British Sugar Plc, said in a telephone interview.
British Sugar, a unit of Associated British Foods Plc, is the sole
processor of British beet sugar producing about 1.3 million tonnes of
refined sugar annually.
"We aren't against the principle of aiding poor countries through
the EBA but sugar was suddenly added to the list of products without
warning or consultation," Carter told Reuters.
EU, BRITISH SUGAR JOBS AT RISK
The jobs of some 500,000 people in the EU sugar industry, including
23,000 in Britain, would be at risk, he said.
The EU already imports 1.5 million tonnes of raw cane sugar, mostly
into Britain, at preferential prices from nearly 20 African, Caribbean and
Pacific (ACP) developing countries under the Cotonou agreement.
Carter said that the EBA proposal was incoherent as it would harm the
ACP group at the expense of another group of developing countries.
It also prejudged plans to carry out detailed studies on the future of
the EU sugar regime, he added.
Carter said that Commissioner Lamy's talk of safeguards was valueless
unless these were clearcut, pro-active and limited the amount of sugar
that could be exported to the EU.
He said that the beneficiary countries produce about 2.5 million tonnes
of sugar annually and could significantly expand domestic output so as
maximise the EU trade concession.
Carter did not specify which countries posed the greatest threat, but
analysts said that Sudan and Ethiopia, which do not belong to the EU/ACP
sugar protocol, would be major gainers.
In Asia, Bangladesh would be a winner.
In addition, Carter said that international traders would be likely to
import sugar into the 48 countries for re-export to the EU in a so-called
"carousel" trade.
If unrestricted, the carousel trade could result in three to five
million tonnes of sugar pouring into the EU market -- equivalent to up to
40 percent of annual demand, he said.
"It's a huge loophole and the poor countries may not benefit from
it," said Carter. "It would be a chaotic free-for-all." |