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| A LOOK AT THE MARKET |
THE SUGAR MARKET
European Commission
approves additional imports
from the global market
European Commission:
1.2 million tonnes of
additional sugar.
Since the 2006 amendment to the EU sugar market regime,
the EU has only been able to meet around 85 per cent of its
needs in the food industry from domestic production. The EU
has since become a net importer of sugar and, in particular,
has become dependent on imports from so-called ACP / LDC
countries (ACP = former colonies of France and the UK in Africa,
the Caribbean and the Pacific; LDC = least developed countries).
However, these imports do not come automatically. If the
world market price is above the prices which can be achieved
in the EU, there is only a limited incentive for the ACP / LDC
countries to sell their sugar to the EU.
In order to prevent a potential shortage of supply in the EU
market, the European Commission has the option of ensuring
a greater supply of sugar. There are two particular instruments
available here: on the one hand, the conversion of non-quota
sugar to quota sugar which may then be used in the food sector
and, on the other, allowing additional imports with reduced
import duties. As Akzente reported, the European Commission
already made use of both of these instruments in the two previous
sugar marketing years.
Approving sugar for human consumption would relieve the
market
Given that the European Commission also expects supplies
to be tight in the EU’s sugar market in the current 2012/2013
financial year, it decided in January 2013 in the Management
committee to bring an additional 1.2 million tonnes of sugar
to the EU market. “With human consumption of around
16.9 million tonnes, this amounts to around seven per cent
of annual sugar consumption in the EU’s food sector,” says
Nordzucker market expert Dr Klaus Schumacher. Half of this,
totalling 600,000 tonnes, comes from the conversion of nonquota
sugar to quota sugar. The applications for this approval
were made by the sugar producers (maximum 50,000 tonnes
per legally independent corporate entity). The European
Commission divided the release of the 600,000 tonnes into
four tranches, each with 150,000 tonnes. In view of the fact
that the volumes applied for were much higher, allocation was
made on a pro-rata basis. If non-quota sugar is released then
levies must be paid. These are below the usual rate as a result
of the special measures taken (see image). The remaining
600,000 tonnes approved in January may be imported from
any non-EU country with reduced import duties. This volume
may not be imported all at once, but must be divided into a
total of four tender procedures.
Four tender procedures in 2013
“In these so-called import tender procedures, the interested
companies make a bid as to the amount of import duties per
tonne they would be prepared to pay for a certain quantity of
additionally imported sugar. Approval is then given to the bidder
who offered to pay the highest import duties,” explains
Klaus Schumacher. In the course of these four tenders, offers
were accepted for a total of 371,000 tonnes of raw sugar and
174,000 tonnes of white sugar. The reduced import duties
were between EUR 141 and EUR 195 for raw sugar per tonne
and between EUR 161 and EUR 240 per tonne for white sugar.
The European Commission expects that the additional
supply of 1.2 million tonnes of sugar will ensure sufficient stock
levels until the end of the 2012/2013 sugar marketing year,
and thereby ensure adequate supply in the market. tm, nt
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