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The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has criticised the UK government for ignoring responses to a public consultation and pressing ahead with a new 260,000t tariff-free quota for raw cane sugar imports, applying for 12 months from 1 January 2021.
While the government has argued that it will not have a negative impact on domestic prices (as the UK is a deficit market for sugar), the NFU sees things differently.
The UK currently produces around 1.1mt of beet sugar (mainly from growers in the east of England) with a further 400,000t of sugar produced from raw cane imports. In addition, around 400,000t of refined sugar is imported, mainly from the EU.
“The government claims that this quota will have no impact on UK beet growers as the sugar price will not be affected. This is clearly wrong. Sugar beet growers will undoubtedly be affected by this quota, allowing imports of sugar produced in ways that would be illegal here,” claimed Michael Sly from the NFU. He has urged the government to rethink its decision.
Imported raw cane sugar is processed by Tate & Lyle Sugars, a prominent advocate of Brexit.
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