On Linkedin, the CEFS Committee of European Sugar Producers (EU SUGAR) notes that “these closures are not isolated cases. They are a direct consequence of the depressed sugar market, rising production costs and increasing competition from cheap imports, making many mills uneconomic.
The organization also believes that the closure of sugar factories has not only industrial but also serious socio-economic consequences. For many regions, such factories are key employers and centers of economic activity. And their shutdown jeopardizes the incomes of hundreds of workers and thousands of sugar beet farmers.
In a comment on the CEFS publication, a Linkedin contributor suggested that unless measures are taken to support the European sugar market, many sugar mills, faced with the huge investments required to achieve carbon neutrality, will give up and close.
“Europe could become the largest importer and consumer of sugar produced in an unsustainable way! A truly astonishing inconsistency in European legislation looms on the horizon,” the comments noted.
What does this have to do with Mercosur?
Recently, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz suggested in a public speech that the implementation of the EU-Mercosur agreement could begin even before the European Court of Justice issues an opinion on its legality.
That is, the German authorities once again confirm the conclusion that this country is the main driver and beneficiary of this agreement. Does this mean that for Germany the interests of the German car and chemical industry in the Latin American market outweigh the interests of the European sugar industry in the EU itself? After all, the EU-Mercosur agreement is in no small part about the prospects for Brazilian cane sugar and its processed products on the European market.
