It’s not just wheat that’s creating tensions between European farmers and Ukraine: The new front of the conflict is about sugar. French beet growers, the EU’s main producer, have requested the European Commission to re-imposed a limit on imports from Kiev, which were suspended in June 2022 following Russia’s invasion.
According to the CGB, if before the conflict the import quota from Ukraine did not exceed 20,070 tons per year, in the twelve months from 2022 to 2023 imports reached 400 thousand tons and by 2024 could reach 800 thousand tons. French manufacturers’ confederation, according to reports. “We need a clear answer from the European Commission on the future management of this sugar flow,” the organization said at a press conference last week.
The answer from Brussels came around this time: Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski responded to a parliamentary question from some members of the EPP group, stating that he was ready to reactivate import quotas. The exemptions will expire on January 5, 2024, after which the community manager will need to consider whether to further extend or eliminate the exemptions. Everything will depend on Brussels’ “assessment”: from this review “if it turns out that imports from Ukraine (sugar, etc.) negatively affect the EU market of similar or directly competing products, otherwise customs duties, the Association Agreement may be reintroduced”.
The protests of beet growers join the protests of wheat producers in many Eastern EU countries, especially Poland. More recently, tensions also arose in Poland between local and Ukrainian truck drivers, who were accused of “invading” the transport market by providing cheaper labor by taking advantage of Brussels.
Bloomberg news agency writes that despite the increase in sugar imports from Ukraine, sugar prices in the EU remain high due to the global shortage of this sweetener. The price of sugar today is over 800 euros per ton in Europe; this is the highest price in over a decade.
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Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
