Leaked plan details EU sugar reforms

MORE details of draft plans to reform the EU's sugar regime have been leaked in Brussels.

The plan to partially offset price and quota cuts by paying direct aid to growers follows the pattern of the CAP decoupling reform, aiming to make farmers more flexible and competitive in response to the market, but still supported with decoupled payments.

The document which is expected to form the basis of formal Commission proposals later in the year also says the sugar support system is becoming an anomaly, now that the rest of the CAP is more market-oriented.