Oxfam slams European sugar tariff

Oxfam criticised six sugar producers

Oxfam has called for an end to guaranteed prices for European sugar producers because it says the practice is unfair to poorer farmers.

The development charity has criticised the European Union's sugar industry for subsidising its farmers.

It says the system denies farmers in poorer countries access to the market.

But Tate & Lyle, one of six sugar companies singled out for criticism, says the charity has presented a distorted picture of the market.

Oxfam says EU taxpayers are in effect giving a billion dollars in a year in subsidies.

Livelihood threat

The charity claims the money allows a few large firms to make big profits by selling sugar to European consumers at three times the world price.

At the same time, it says, lower cost sugar producers in poor developing countries are denied access to European markets by high import tariffs.

To make matters worse, Oxfam says surplus sugar produced in Europe is dumped on world markets at well below cost price, which further threatens the livelihoods of farmers in poor nations.

Some of the very poorest countries do receive preferential access to EU sugar markets but the charity says the value of this concession is equivalent to just three days sugar consumption a year in the EU.

But sugar firm Tate & Lyle said the charity had presented a distorted picture.

The company said a fully liberalised sugar regime in Europe would probably not benefit farmers in the poorest countries.

Their costs, it said, were higher than those of producers in places like Australia, Brazil and Thailand - countries that would dominate the market.