You may have noticed a widget to the right hand side of this website containing interesting sugar news. This RSS feed is powered by Yahoo Pipes, and the webmaster of sugartraders.co.uk thinks it’s pretty cool because it’s providing good quality (quality not quantity) of news of interest to UK and international sugar traders, updated in real time.
Tate & Lyle announced today that they intend to convert all their retail sugar to Fairtradeâ„¢ status. In a press release, the company announced:
“At Tate & Lyle we believe in a fair deal for everyone. That’s why we’re working to making sure our entire retail cane sugar range is 100% Fairtrade. This means our sugar cane farmers will receive a Fairtrade Premium for their crop. We’re also taking big steps to reduce our carbon emissions; that’s another good reason to smile.”
For further information, please click the links below:-
BBC Radio Four’s The Food Programme today broadcast quite a thoughtful documentary about EU and ACP sugar in light of the EU sugar reform and the EU’s denunciation of the ACP Sugar Protocol. You can listen again the the programme by going to the programme’s website.
BBC presenter Sheila Dillon spoke with luminaries such as Prof Jack Winkler, who advocates an increase in the EU price of sugar rather than a 36% cut, and a Mr Tom Lines, a consultant. BBC Caribbean reporter Orin Gordon interviewed The Hon Erskine Griffith, Minister of Agriculture of Barbados; Dr Anthony Kennedy, senior plant breeder at the West Indies Central Cane Breeding Station; and Mr Chris Docherty
, managing director of the company behind Barbados Plantation Reserve special sugar, which is apparently being sold in Waitrose for £2.49 for 500g and in Tesco for £2.99 for 500g (that’s an astonishing $12,600.00 per tonne!).
Special sugars marketed in the EU also originate in Malawi (marketed in the UK by Whitworths), Mauritius (marketed in the UK by Billingtons), Reunion and other countries.
The European Commission today informed operators that there is “reasonable doubt” as to the origin of sugar in high sugar content products of heading CN 1704 90 99; 1806 10 30; 1806 10 90; 1806 20 95; 1901 90 99; 2101 12 98; 2101 20 98; 2106 90 59; 2106 90 98; 3302 10 29. The Commission warned operators to take “all necessary precautions” to guard against fraud.
The Refined Sugar Association and The Sugar Association of London arrange regular education and training seminars, with senior members of the sugar trade and the legal profession giving their time freely to talk on a variety of subjects. On Thursday 1st November 2007, the Sugar Association of London and The Refined Sugar Association are presenting a one day seminar at the offices of Clifford Chance LLP, solicitors. Presentations will be made by senior members of the sugar trade and lawyers from leading City of London law firms. Presentations will be made on the subjects of:
For further details and to register to attend the seminar, please see the Sugar Association website.
The EU Agriculture Council today agreed the “mini-reform” of the EU sugar policy, Agriculture Commissioner Mrs Fischer Boel said at the press conference after the meeting. Mrs Fischer Boel noted that for the first time EU beet growers would be able to decide on quota renunciation, with the incentive of a one-off payment of 300 €/t; she further noted that the strength of the cereals market would encourage further renunciation of quota, but if the desired quantity was not reached, there would be an across-the-board quota cut in 2010. The press conference can be viewed online here. Earlier today, the beet growers group CIBE issued a press release which can be viewed here.
The EU Agriculture Council meeting will start at 11.00 on Wednesday 26 September. On sugar, the Council should adopt by a qualified majority a regulation (9147/07) amending the scheme for restructuring the EU sugar industry. Certain points put to delegations in July have been taken into account in the final text; these include the principle of voluntary restructuring, a two-phase approach to restructuring applications in 2008/2009 and a final reduction in the quota which takes account of the restructuring effort already made. The Commission hopes that the amendments will free up approximately 3,8 million tonnes of sugar quota in addition to the 2,2 million tonnes already renounced. If insufficient quota is renounced by 2010, the Commission also proposes that the level of compulsory reduction should vary in the light of the number of quotas which each Member State gave up under the restructuring scheme. For more information, see the Council briefing note here and here.
Sugar has been high on the agenda this month in Brussels. On September 12, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel and EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel met with ministers from key sugar producing countries in the African, Caribbean and Pacific region to discuss upcoming changes in the EU’s sugar import regime. The meeting with ministers from Fiji, Mauritius and Guyana took place in parallel to the European Union’s ongoing negotiations of the Economic Partnership Agreements with the ACP.
Meanwhile, the Trade Commissioner has published an article entitled, “Why has the EU proposed to end the EU-ACP Sugar Protocol?“.
The Sugar Traders Association of the United Kingdom was founded in 1952. In 2000, STAUK launched a website. Ever keen to keep up with the times, today that website has become a blog.  Please do feel free to make any comments (good or bad!). Meanwhile, the old website, which contains old news items, is still online here.
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