§ Mr. PaiceTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development which countries within the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group will continue to have preferential access to the EU sugar market when the Everything But Arms countries have completed transition to free access. [100627]
§ Clare ShortAll those members of the ACP group that are least developed countries (LDC) will benefit from continued preferential access to the EU sugar market, since they are also eligible for EBA preferences. These countries are as follows: Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Tuvalu, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Vanuatu and Zambia. For non-LDC members of the ACP, it is not possible at present to indicate whether they will have continued preferential access to the EU sugar market from 2009 since this depends on the provisions for sugar in the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) which are due to replace the Cotonou Agreement in 2008. Negotiations on EPAs have only just started but the UK is pushing for all ACP countries, not just LDCs, to benefit from duty and quota free access to the EU from 2008. EPA provisions on sugar will in turn be affected by the way the EU sugar regime is reformed.
§ Mr. PaiceTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much sugar entered the EU from the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries under the Cotonou agreement in the last 12 months. [100628]
§ Clare ShortIn the period June 2001 to July 2002, 1.51 million tonnes of sugar were imported into the EU, from ACP countries and India, under the EU Sugar Protocol and the Special Preferential Sugar import arrangements.
§ Mr. PaiceTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate she has made of the potential impact of production of sugar by Brazil on the economies of the African, Caribbean and Pacific and Everything But Arms countries if a global free market in sugar were to be established. [100629]
§ Clare ShortWinners from a free world sugar market are likely to be low-cost producers with the ability to compete on an open market, whereas the high-cost (thus less efficient) producers are likely to lose, unless their industries are restructured.
1121WBrazil is estimated to be the lowest cost producer in the world and has the potential to respond very quickly to increased demand and supply large quantities of sugar at around the current world price. It is hard to predict what the situation would be like under complete liberalisation, although it is expected that Brazil will absorb a large share of the world market, as will Australia. However, among the ten lowest cost producers in the world (1993–98) are also Zimbabwe (before Australia), Zambia, Malawi and Swaziland who are therefore also potential winners.
Some ACP countries like Swaziland are low cost producers and therefore likely to benefit from further liberalisation. Also efficient ACP LDCs, like Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique stand to gain. For ACP countries like Jamaica and Madagascar who are high cost producers and heavily dependent on the preferential access granted by the EU, the sugar industry might need some restructuring to be able to compete.
§ Mr. James PaiceTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate she has made of the total sugar production of the Everything But Arms countries(a) at present and (1)) at the end of the transition period to free access to the EU. [100631]
§ Clare ShortFigures from the Statistical Bulletins of the International Sugar Organisation (January 2003) report a total production of sugar from EBA countries of 1.15million tonnes in 2001. No estimate has been made of possible future production levels for these countries.