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| Europe wants sugar price reduced |
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by
Emmanuel Muwamba, 22 September 2004
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21:35:32
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The price of sugar that Malawi and other Least Developed Countries (LDCs) sell to Europe is set to be reduced by one third, a move government says will reduce its revenue and that of the sugar industry.
Minister of Trade and Private Sector Development Eunice Kazembe said Wednesday on her return from the One Village One Product (Ovop) summit in Thailand the price of sugar will be reduced because of World Trade Organisation (WTO) regulations and public pressure to align it with international sugar prices.
“The proposal to reduce the sugar prices was circulated to all LDCs. They say the sugar price will be reduced by one third between 2005 and 2008.
The preferential sugar price regime is at three times that of the world price. So the change in the price is of concern to the LDCs because the initial agreement was that we should earn the three times money for development,” Kazembe said, who came via Brussels, Belgium where discuss with the European Union Trade Community were held.
Illovo public relations officer Irene Phalula said her company is aware of the development but failed to give more details on how her company will be affected with the reduction in sugar price in Europe.
“I can’t give more information on this issue because my bosses are in South Africa. But Tuesday will be ideal to give you more information,” she said.
The EU’s Everything But Arms (EBA) Agreement, enacted during 2001 for the world’s 48 LDCs, was supposed to grant duty-free and quota-free access into Europe but before then a global sugar tariff quota of 74, 185 tonnes was introduced, increasing by 15 percent annually.
Under the agreement Malawi supplied 11,100 tonnes last year and was supposed to continue to have privileged access to European markets into the future.
On the Ovop summit, Kazembe said it was important because “ideas move a country to a better position to uplift the standards of the rural masses.”
National Ovop coordinator Bruce Munthali explained that the summit helped the Malawi delegation on transfer of technologies because other countries are far advanced having been in the programme for about 10 years now.
“We also discussed human resource development to give our staff the capacity for good quality of products,” said Munthali, adding: “promotion of trade in Ovop and other products was among the issues too.”
Munthali also said there is potential market in Asia where our gemstone from Mzimba and the Shire valley can help the country earn good revenue if well polished.
The summit has also decided to have a common website where all members in Ovop will be sharing information related to products and business out of it.
The Ovop summit which was attended by 33 countries three from Africa took place from September 16 to 19. Malawi was represented by Kazembe, Munthali and the deputy director of public procurement Lloyd Golosi. |
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