Press Release: Sugar Reform – Commissioner Fischer Boel urges further efforts in restructuring the EU sugar industry

Mariann Fischer Boel, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, has called for renewed efforts by agricultural ministers and the sugar industry to make the restructuring process in the sugar industry a success. A key element in the EU sugar reform, which came into force on 1 July 2006, was the establishment of a restructuring fund financed by sugar producers to assist the restructuring process needed to render the industry more competitive. The objective is to take out about 6 million tonnes of quota in order to ensure balance on the market after a four-year transition period. In the first year of application, about 1.5 million tonnes of quota were renounced under the restructuring scheme. The deadline for applications for 2007/2008 is 31 January 2007, but given that consultations with interested parties could take up to 45 days, restructuring intentions have to be announced by early December 2006. Regrettably, at present the declared intentions to renounce quota for 2007/2008 amount to only 0.7 million tonnes which is far below what is necessary to balance the market.