News

Developing countries demand sugar reform delay

brussels, belgium (ap)

FARM MINISTERS FROM developing countries demanded yesterday that European Union farm ministers reconsider planned cuts in guaranteed sugar prices, arguing that the changes would decimate their sugar farmers.

Ministers from Fiji, Guyana, Jamaica, Mauritius, Malawi and Swaziland held talks with their EU counterparts on behalf of the African, Caribbean and Pacific group.

Arvin Boolell, agriculture minister from Mauritius and head of the 76-nation group, said the EU reforms, which aim to slash sugar prices by 39 per cent over the next four years, "will sound the death of the sugarcane industry in the ACP countries."

The developing countries called on the EU to delay the reforms, phasing them in over an eight-year period rather than the planned four.

However, EU officials said a one-year grace period for the poorer countries was sufficient, adding that they would also benefit from special aid plans if they proved they needed it.

The EU's 40-year-old system for protecting sugar growers has come under fire from its world trade partners.