Battle lines drawn on sugar industry talks
Key elements are a 39% price cut in the institutional price for sugar, a corresponding reduction in the minimum price for sugar beet and 60% compensation to farmers for the cut. A voluntary restructuring scheme is proposed to encourage factory closures and renunciation of quota.
It is generally accepted the proposals would devastate the Irish sugar industry which involves 3,700 beet growers and 185 full-time and 70 seasonal employees at the country’s sole sugar processing plant in Mallow and a range of other service providers including hauliers.
Agriculture and Food Minister Mary Coughlan, Greencore Sugar, politicians and the Irish Farmers Association have criticised the proposals, which the European Commission and British EU presidency want adopted at the November meeting of the Council of Agricultural Ministers, ahead of the Word Trade Organisation ministerial meeting in Hong Kong in December.
Minister Coughlan said while the need for reform is acknowledged, she considered the Commission’s proposals unbalanced and unacceptable.
They go beyond the principles of previous CAP reforms and could lead to drastic consequences for the sugar beet industry in a number of member states, including Ireland.
She said the reforms should be based on a longer lead-in time and it would be better to await the outcome of the WTO meeting before seeking to conclude an agreement.
IFA president John Dillon said the proposals are an attack on the Irish industry and the country’s beet growers, who need a viable price if they are to continue in production.
