Global Sugar Alliance of Producers Wants End of Trade Barriers

(Bloomberg) – The European Union and U.S. should drop trade barriers on sugar and ethanol because they have caused “price instability,” a sugar producer group said.

Demand for sugar and ethanol is climbing due to population growth and increased wealth, especially in developing countries, the Brisbane, Australia-based Global Sugar Alliance said in a statement today. It represents producers in countries including Brazil, Thailand and Australia, the biggest exporters.

“Market restrictions constraining domestic supply are failing both consumers and sugar users, limiting their ability to access sugar produced by the world’s most efficient and lowest cost producers,” Ian Glasson, chairman of the alliance, said in the statement. Glasson is also chief executive officer of Sucrogen Ltd., Australia’s biggest raw sugar producer, according to the company’s website. “The EU continues to produce and export surplus sugar despite clear evidence of the negative impact to world market prices of export subsidies.”

The EU has limited the amount of sugar that local producers can sell within the domestic market after the bloc’s sugar reform of 2006. Some imports are also limited due to duties. In the U.S., sugar imports are limited.

“Interventionist sugar policies continue to create price instability,” the alliance said. “Reform is essential to ensure that the most efficient producers can increase investment and production to keep pace with rising global demand and changing consumer needs.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Isis Almeida in London at Ialmeida3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at Ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net.