Sugar industry on crusade against aid money

During a meeting in Berlin last week, Hans-Jörg Gebhard, chairman of the WVZ, stated that the coupled support creates unfair competition in European beet cultivation. This hinders the reform of the industry, which started in 2017 with the disappearance of the beet quota. Since 2015, EU member states have been able to reward growers by paying a benefit for every hectare of sugar beet they grow.

Also support in new cap
This direct coupled support is also included in the new CAP that will come into effect in 2023. WVZ calls European Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski of Agriculture and Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition, to change this. State aid is only permitted in an extreme situation.

Especially in Central and Eastern Europe, but also Spain and Italy, a fixed amount is paid out to growers every year. Romania takes the cake with €673 per hectare of beets, followed by Greece with €575. This is a thorn in the side of Western countries with a large sugar industry - such as Germany, France and the Netherlands. The Dutch Cosun is also known to want to see this unfair competition disappear. Cosun therefore probably supports the WVZ's statement.

A total of eleven of the nineteen beet-growing Member States pay out aid. This amounts to €1,3 billion in total. Together they account for 35% of the sugar beet area in the EU.

Keeping the countryside livable
Member States cite the preservation of the countryside as a reason for supporting beet cultivation. Beet cultivation provides jobs and therefore quality of life. A country like Romania or Greece cannot keep up with the revenues achieved in Western Europe. The factories are also less efficient. The credo that only the strongest survive is thus countered for the sake of the national interest.

That is precisely what the reform of the sugar industry aims to bring about. Survival of the fittest where sugar is refined only in the most efficient places and most efficient factories. This goal is being thwarted with these 'illegal subsidies', according to Chairman Gebhard.

Inequality through neonics
Another topic that sows inequality in the sector is the ban on seed coating with neonicotinoids. Twelve Member States have an exemption from their use. Not in the Netherlands, for example, which can cause major problems depending on the year. German research from the Thünen Institute shows that this equates to a loss of €500.

That is why the WVZ advocates the admission of neonics - to protect beet crops against the yellowing virus transmitted by aphids - so that all growers have a level playing field. Only when an alternative to the drug is available can it be banned, according to WVZ.