CIUS ‘disappointed’ by EC out-of-quota sugar measures
The European Commission announced in November last year that it would release an extra 1.2m metric tons (MT) of sugar onto the EU market following supply complaints from organisations such as the CIUS, Caobisco (The association of chocolate, biscuit and confectionery industries of Europe) and BDSI (German Confectionery Association).
Forward-planning constraints
CIUS, which represents companies including Nestlé, Mondelēz International and Coca-Cola, said the first tranche of out-of quota sugar resulted in only an added 200,000 MT onto the EU market.
“CIUS is disappointed at the limited volume released although it recognises the reduction applied to duties…Sugar users are unable to plan forward their needs until the end of the marketing year if the market is held artificially tight,” it said in a statement.
CIUS: Release total volume without levies
The organization has called on the European Commission and member states to release the total volume of out of quota sugar in the next tranche due at the end of February to ease supply tensions.
It has also requested that the remaining out-of-quota sugar be released without levies instead of tenders at reduced rates.
Quota system
The Agricultural Committee of the European Parliament recently voted to extend sugar quotas until 2020 rather than abolish them in 2015. The decision is not final and a vote will be made at a plenary session in Parliament in March. A final decision must be made by June.
CIUS hopes that the EU will abolish sugar quotas at the earliest opportunity and will gradually reduce import tariffs.
Leonardo Bichara Rocha, senior economist at the International Sugar Organization, recently told this site that even if the sugar quotas run until 2020 there will be enough sugar on the EU market for the next seven years. See HERE.
In contrast, procurement heads for Mondelēz International and Nestlé have said that the quotas are causing significant supply constraints leading to sky-high prices.
