Ross Sheil, Staff Reporter
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) yesterday took its long-awaited decision over its price cut for African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP)-produced sugar.
ACP producers, Jamaica included, will suffer gradual cuts leading to an overall reduction of 36 per cent over four years up to 2009. The cut is three per cent lower than previously proposed but still higher than the 19 per cent proposed by the ACP group, which counts 18 sugar-producing countries among its members.
"We are still in a precarious position," Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke told The Gleaner yesterday. "I tell you, it's going to be very rough as far as ACP sugar producers are concerned."
NO CONFIRMATION ON COMPENSATION
He stressed that confirmation has yet to be made on the compensation package for ACP member states.
The EU made the cut following a ruling by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against its 40-year-old Sugar Protocol. The agreement guaranteed EU sugar prices, currently more than three times the world level.
European beet sugar farmers have been offered US$7 billion in compensation compared to US$47 million for ACP producers. The EU said aid organisation OXFAM had "... hurled money at its member states to convince them to sign up, but has abandoned some of the world's poorest countries to destitution."
Allan Rickards, chairman of Jamaica's All-Island Cane Farmers Association, agreed.
"The resistance within the European Parliament was simply bought out," Mr. Rickards charged. "I had long formed the opinion, having been told by the EU's representative in Jamaica, and others from the EU, that we could expect nothing from them and the United Kingdom."
He added, however, that cane farmers stand to gain from interest being shown in the industry by Brazilian firms and India's Dhampur Sugar Corporation, which has previously provided consultancy services to the Government-owned Sugar Corporation of Jamaica.
