§ Mr. Skeetasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the 15 leading world producers of sugar other than industrial States and indicate the degree of dependence of each country on this key product.
§ Mr. Buchanan-SmithIn 1980 the 15 leading world producers of sugar, other than industrial countries were:
- Argentina
- Brazil
- China
- Colombia
- Cuba
- Dominican Republic
- Egypt
- India
- Indonesia
- Mexico
- Pakistan
- Peru
- Philippines
- Thailand
- Turkey
Certain of these countries, such as Cuba, produce sugar primarily for export and are therefore heavily dependent 179W on it for foreign exchange earnings, whilst others, such as Indonesia, consume their production and hence their dependence on it relates to the savings on imports.
§ Mr. Skeetasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the tonnage of cane sugar imported into the European Economic Community under the Lomé convention and the price paid comparable with the world price; and whether the guaranteed price is sufficient to cover cane producers' production costs.
§ Mr. Buchanan-SmithUnder the sugar protocol of the Lomé convention, the Community undertakes, for an indefinite period, to purchase and import, levy-free, at guaranteed prices within the Community's price range, a total of 1.3 million tonnes of sugar a year from certain ACP and other developing countries. In practice, the prices at which the sugar is sold are freely negotiated between buyers and sellers and may therefore exceed the guaranteed prices. For 1981–82 the Community has offered to increase the guaranteed price for raw sugar by 7½ per cent. to 38. 58 ECU/100 kg. compared to world prices currently ranging between 26 and 29 ECU/100kg. No data are available to enable this price to be compared with current cane sugar production costs.