3 minute read
FROM THE CHAIR
By Owen Menkens, Chairman CANEGROWERS
Sustainable sugar could be key to unlocking European market
Advertisement
There has been a lot of discussion recently about a free trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and Australia.
We export over 85% of our sugar, so gaining access to any market is very important. And with a high-income economy of over 450 million people, the EU has potential to be a lucrative market indeed.
The EU is a net importer of sugar due to its declining sugar beet crop over the last few years.
This decline is largely due to the restrictions placed on chemical use by the EU Commission, which have negatively impacted the yields of many EU growers.
Sugar beet is a fast-growing broadleaf plant that requires the use of insecticides and fungicides. By restricting the use of certain chemicals, the Commission is hindering sugar production.
This decline is unlikely to be halted any time soon, with the EU requiring that 25% of all farmlands be organic by 2030.
The demand for sugar in Europe does mean that there will be a market for our industry in the future, as long as there are commercial and meaningful volumes included in any free trade agreement.
Sustainable Sugar
The EU wants to include only sustainable agricultural products in its trade deal, so CANEGROWERS is working hard to ensure that our Smartcane BMP program is recognised as achieving Europe's sustainability benchmarks.
The economics of shipping Australian sugar to Europe may mean it is never a huge market for us. However, if we can extract a premium for our high quality, sustainable and reliable supply, then anything is possible if the demand is there.
CANEGROWERS delivers industry trade strategy as a joint initiative with the Australian Sugar Milling Council.
We were successful in obtaining federal government support for major implementation components of the strategy.
Together we involve QSL and all sugar marketers under an industry trade committee to ensure that as an industry we are focused on positioning Australian sugar in as many markets as possible at the most commercially viable terms.
But our trade priorities go further than sustainability issues, extending into pursuing alternative markets and seeking a final result from our win against Indian export subsidies.
While implementing trade strategy takes a whole of industry approach, trade policy is a large part of what CANEGROWERS does, as we are convinced that grower-needs must be front and centre when seeking better outcomes from all of our market access opportunities. ■