Europe to Release Excess Sugar

BRUSSELS – The European Commission on Wednesday proposed the release of half a million extra tonnes of sugar for export — more than a third of its normal annual quota — because of “exceptional market conditions,” reports French news agency Agence France-Presse.

The “temporary” scheme to allow producers to market the fruits of a “very good” harvest came amid record prices on world markets pushed up by bad weather in India and Brazil that has reduced global stocks.

European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Mariann Fischer Boel stressed in a statement that the extra sugar released between now and July “can be exported without violating the European Union’s World Trade Organisation subsidy commitments.”

The EU is normally allowed to export a maximum of 1.34 million tonnes of subsidised sugar, a Brussels spokesman said.

Sugar prices last week hit their highest level for 29 years on both sides of the Atlantic.

In New York, unrefined sugar reached 29.82 US cents a pound, while the London market struck a similar peak at 767 pounds per tonne.