Bid to cut EU sugar price opposed
Pekka Pesonen, Secretary-General of Copa-Cogeca, which represents farmers and farm co-ops, was warning against European Commission moves to authorise import tenders and release out-of-quota white sugar onto the EU market to help bring down EU prices.
He said, “EU sugar prices have been falling on average continuously since January 2013, down €100 per tonne.
He said, “Any drop in market prices resulting from this measure would also only benefit the sugar users industry, since the decrease is never passed on to consumers, causing only a further deterioration in farmers’ incomes which are already half the average level”.
A fifth year of global sugar surplus is imminent. Prices reached a 30-year high in 2011, but futures declined 56% since then. EU prices remain 100% above world market prices (€600 versus €300).
