Ireland's 3,700 sugar beet growers are facing "a total wipe- out" if proposals to reduce import tariffs drastically and remove export subsidies are agreed at the upcoming Word Trade Organisation negotiations in Mexico, it was claimed yesterday.
Mr John Dillon, the Irish Farmers' Association president, said sugar production in the EU was facing an all-out attack in the WTO by major exporting countries such as Brazil, Australia and Thailand
"EU growers are extremely vulnerable to cuts in the EU's existing import tariffs. Any significant reduction in import tariffs would throw the European market wide open to cheap sugar imports, collapsing the price of sugar beet and devastating the income of Ireland's 3,700 growers," said Mr Dillon.
"At this stage, Commissioner Fischler has proposed an average import tariff cut of 36 per cent for all products with a minimum cut of 15 per cent for 'sensitive' products.
"I am putting down a marker for the Government in the Cancun negotiations, that the EU must designate sugar as a 'sensitive' product and the tariff cut must be limited to 15 per cent.
"The minimum 15 per cent reduction already offered by the EU would cut beet prices to Irish growers by 6 per cent. The Government must ensure the EU holds to this line and does not concede any greater cuts," he added.
Mr Dillon pointed out that the EU purchases 1.6 million tonnes of sugar from African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries under a preferential import deal at the guaranteed EU price.
Mr Dillon said he was seeking a meeting with the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, and the Minister of State for Trade, Mr Michael Ahern, who will lead the Irish representation in Mexico.