§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much sugar by weight and value was exported from each nation covered by the Everything But Arms proposals to(a) the United Kingdom and (b) the European Union. [146414]
§ Mr. Caborn[holding answer 22 January 2001]EU tariffs on imports of sugar are set at a prohibitively high level. Although they have been progressively decreasing as a result of the Uruguay round, additional safeguard duties ensure that imports cannot undercut the EU support price. Therefore the vast majority of sugar from developing countries that does enter the EU does so in the form of duty-free quotas under two preferential 635W arrangements, the sugar protocol and the special preferential sugar arrangement. The sugar protocol quotas are fixed, the special preferential sugar quotas vary annually.
Of the 48 least developed countries (LDCs) that stand to benefit from the LDC market access proposal, only four have quotas for sugar under these two schemes, as follows:
Tonnes Sugar protocol Special preferential sugar (2000–01) Madagascar 10,760 1,606 Malawi 20,824 13,109 Tanzania 10,186 1,521 Zambia — 11,707 Uganda1 — — Total 41,770 27,943 1 Uganda is a signatory to the protocol but does not have a quota. This is so that if the other signatories are unable to fill their quotas, Uganda can be invited to make up the shortfall. Thus the total amount of sugar imported into the EU from LDCs is some 70,000 tonnes, or 0.004 per cent. of total EU production of 17,680,000 tonnes (1999–2000).
As for value, there are guaranteed minimum prices for imports of sugar under both these access arrangements related to EU intervention prices. However it is difficult to be precise across the whole of the EU, since importers may (and some do) pay a premium on top of the guaranteed price. This is a commercial decision for the importers and companies concerned. As an indication, the world sugar price (based on spot prices for 18 January 2001) is some 264 euros per tonne, raw and white. EU intervention prices are 646 euros per tonne for white sugar (UK) and 524 euros per tonne for raw sugar, about two and a half times the world price.
The UK (Tate and Lyle) takes about 64 per cent. of all cane imported into the EU for refining.
§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry from which non-Everything But Arms countries sugar can be imported into an EBA nation and then re-exported to the European Union at the EBA tariff rate. [146399]
§ Mr. Caborn[holding answer 22 January 2001]None, legally. The EU's "Rules of Origin", which apply to those developing countries eligible for trade preferences under the EU's generalised system of preferences (GSP) scheme, preclude this type of carousel trade.