ARCHIVE 082      
       
22.08.02      
Europe's 'bitter pill' for sugar producers in Africa
Europas "bittere Pille" für Zucker-Produzenten in Afrika
 

  A UK development agency says European Union (EU) consumers and taxpayers are paying to destroy livelihoods in the world's poorest countries. The agency, Oxfam, says the EU's sugar policy makes profits for Europeans while keeping developing countries poor. The report is released days before the start in South Africa of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), where world leaders will attempt to agree a plan to reduce world poverty.



Die britische Entwicklungshilfeorganisation OXFAM hat in einem Bericht zum Erdgipfel in Johannesburg klargestellt, dass durch die EU-Zucker-Politik Steuerzahler und Konsumenten in der Europäischen Union dafür bezahlen, Menschen in den ärmsten Ländern arm zu halten.
     
  Sugar cane has been grown and milled in the Southern African region for centuries. Excellent growing conditions, high yielding cane varieties and relatively low milling costs combine to position the Southern African Development Community as one of the world’s largest sugar producing regions with an average annual production of 3,8 million tons. There are nine main sugar producing countries:
Malawi / Mauritius / Réunion / Mozambique / Swaziland / South Africa / Tanzania / Zambia / Zimbabwe
     
Beispiel
Mauritius & Réunion:
 
  Ursprünglich waren die Tieflandsregionen von Mauritius durch immergrüne, tropische Tieflandsregenwälder geprägt , die durch die Besiedlung der Insel von den Holländern langsam der 1639 eingeführten Nutzpflanze Zuckerrohr weichen mussten.
     
Example
Mozambique:
 
  October, 1999: President Chissano of Mozambique, officially re-opens the Maragra mill's doors for business after a fifteen-year closure.
March 2002: bringing back on line the Maragra sugar estate less than one year after serious flooding
     
  The European Commission has finalised the regulation that opens a tariff quota for raw cane sugar originating from least developed countries for refining in the EU during the marketing year 2001/02. It sets a quota of 74,185 tonnes with a minimum purchase price of Euro 49.68 per 100kg.

Oxfam says Europe's subsidised over-production of sugar is having a "devastating impact" on the poor world, ensuring big profits for the EU's large farmers and sugar processors, but "undermining opportunities for people in the developing world to work their way out of poverty". "The sugar regime is a clear example of Europe's blatant hypocrisy in dealing with developing countries." "They pressurise poor countries to open their markets while protecting their own through tariffs and subsidies." "International trade has the potential to help lift millions of people out of poverty, but it will never do this as long as we continue with the current rigged rules and double standards like those maintained through the CAP." Oxfam says that quotas and tariffs set Europe's sugar prices at almost three times the world market price, meaning huge subsidised surpluses are dumped annually overseas, depressing world prices and pushing other exporters out.

  Sugar production in the EU is a major industry, accounting for some 23 million metric tons in the year 2000, of which 14m metric tons was consumed within the Community, 6m were exported and 3m was stored (for which aid was paid). Imports were approximately 1.8 million metric tons.
Imports from third countries are heavily restricted although, under a protocol to the Lome Convention, the EU pays above world prices to import 1,3045 million metric tons of raw sugar annually from 17 African, Pacific and Caribbean (ACP) countries, most of which (about 1m tonnes) is refined by the UK.



Die Produzenten sind vom europäischen Abnehmer abhängig, denn die EU-Kommission entscheidet über den Ankauf der tropischen Ware. Anhand der Quotenregelung wird der Basispreis jedes Jahr neu festgesetzt. Dieser liegt weit über dem Weltmarktpreis, deckt aber keineswegs die Kosten der Pflanzer.



  "The Great EU Sugar Scam"
Kate Rayworth
Author of the Oxfam report on BBC
  The European Union has rejected an accusation from the British development charity, Oxfam, that it is unfairly excluding sugar farmers in developing countries from European markets.

Ein Sprecher der Europäischen Union hat inzwischen die Vorwürfe von OXFAM zurückgewiesen.