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ACP/LDC Sugarcane Industries Group

ACP Sugar Group

The ACP/LDC Sugarcane Industries Group is formed of representatives of sugar industries (both millers and growers) supplying ACP/LDC tariff free imports listed in Annex 1 to Commission Regulation (EC) No 2015/1550, plus South Africa.

Lobbying Activity

Response to Further reciprocal tariff liberalisation under Art. 29 of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement

30 Sept 2024

The ACP/LDC Sugar Industries Group (ACP Sugar Group) is deeply concerned that since Russias invasion of Ukraine, around 950,000 tonnes (of which around 510,000 tonnes in Oct/Sep 2023/24)(Source: Eurostat) of Ukrainian sugar has already substantially displaced an equivalent volume of ACP and LDC imports into the European Union markets, both for ACP/LDC refined, white sugar and for raw cane sugar for refining in EU refineries. For many decades, sugar has remained a sensitive product in EU trade negotiations, primarily owing to its vital importance to ACP and LDC economies. In the negotiation of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) and also under the terms of the Everything But Arms initiative (EBA), high-level negotiations concerning the specificities of sugar have been paramount. To underline the sensitivity of sugar under the terms of Article 42 the EU/CARIFORUM EPA, for example, the Parties commit to undertake prior consultations on trade policy developments that may impact on the competitive positions of traditional agricultural products, including bananas, rum, rice and sugar, in the market of the EC Party. The shock of the sudden replacement of ACP and LDC sugar in EU markets with sugar imported from Ukraine has already been profound and will be long-lasting. It has come on top of the relatively recent shocks of the denunciation of the EU/ACP Sugar Protocol in 2007, the emergency measures under which the EU imported around two million tonnes of sugar from the world market in 2012, and the shock of the abolition of EU sugar production quotas in 2017. These shocks led to the closure of sugar factories in ACP and LDC countries, and hence to rural impoverishment. Today, the ACP and LDC sugar industries are bearing shockingly higher input costs, largely caused by (energy) cost-push inflation. The remaining sugar industries of the ACPLDC Group have and will continue to make significant investments in achieving a meaningful transition to greener energy industry and in diversifying to become sugarcane-based industries rather than just sugar industries. For example, in South Africa to produce Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), in Belize, Eswatini and Mauritius to generate electricity from bagasse and cane trash, and much else besides. But these investments, and the necessary research and development entailed in making these plans a reality, rely on the catalyst of an underlying, financially sustainable sugar industry. The ACP/LDC Sugar Industries therefore align themselves with the statements of CEFS, CIBE and others, to call on the EU to implement policy solutions to address the impact of the situation of Ukrainian sugar, and request the EU to consult fully with ACP and LDC countries at the highest political levels with a view to avoid further disrupting and/or distorting ACP/LDC preferential access to EU sugar markets whilst giving unequivocal support to Ukrainian farmers, factory workers and citizens. For further details, please see the attached file and/or the ACP/LDC Sugar Industries Group website at https://acpsugar.org/
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Meeting with Jerzy Bogdan Plewa (Director-General Agriculture and Rural Development)

12 Feb 2018 ยท Exchange of views