German confectionery and bakery producers have strongly criticised
the current EU system designed to keep sugar prices artificially
high, arguing that it makes European companies uncompetitive when
it comes to exports.
Belgian firm Cosucra Groupe Warcoing is exiting the sugar beet
processing business to concentrate entirely on added value
ingredients for health foods, it announced this week.
The EU has asked the Ivory Coast, to abolish a law that requires
all cocoa beans to be exported in jute bags. This would mean cocoa
could only be exported in 60 kg or 65 kg bags rather than in bulk.
The Ghana Cocoa Board (GCB) has secured a US$650 million loan to
purchase cocoa for the 2003/2004 cocoa season. The
facility,repayable within a year, was arranged by four leading
banks.
Imminent reforms to the EU sugar regime could slice millions off
the sugar profits for Associated British Foods (ABF), the owner of
British Sugar, and Danisco.
US department of agriculture sugar-market economist John Love has
predicted that producer prices for sugar for 2002/03 will be 5 per
cent higher than last year's.
British Sugar and the NFU have agreed the provisional factory
opening dates for this year's sugar harvest. Newark factory will
open on 12 September with the remaining five factories opening on
16 September.
Cocoa traders have predicted that cocoa prices are set to increase.
The price of the commodity has dropped by up to 40 per cent since
touching a 16-year high in October 2002.
Vietnam's burgeoning cocoa industry received a significant boost
last week after the US government confirmed it would provide $4
million (€3.4m) in development aid.
London cocoa prices hit a new 15-month low last week, encouraging
many German buyers to pull out of the market in the hope that
prices might fall further.
Vietnam is halfway through its target of planting 500 hectares of
cocoa this year. The country, famed for its quality coffee
production, wants to become less reliant on one single cash crop.
The 25th annual Australian society of sugar cane technologists'
conference is aiming to highlight the latest advancements in
research and development in the industry.
Replacing dietary fat with a higher intake of carbohydrates,
including sugar, can have a positive effect on weight control in
overweight individuals, according to a study sponsored by the
European Commission and EU sugar industries...
A federal government bail-out of the Australian sugar industry was
under threat on Tuesday after business and opposition groups, in
particular food manufacturers, objected to a three cent a kilogram
levy to fund the $120 million plan...
