• Cane refiners assist in delivering Europe's development goals as they use different raw material for sugar

Press Releases


ESRA presents study on raw materials


On 30 January, the European Sugar Refineries Association (ESRA) presented a study on access to raw materials in the EU cane refining sector. A roundtable event in the European Parliament - hosted by MEP Sofia Ribeiro - focused on the topic “EU free trade agreements – a fair balance on agricultural market access?”  The event brought together representatives of the European Parliament, the European Commission (including John Clarke, Director - Directorate A: International at DG AGRI), representatives of EU Member States, third country representatives from Brazil and Australia, and industry stakeholders.  At the event, ESRA presented a new study (see link below) that gathers compelling evidence of the need to provide access to raw materials to our sector, through the inclusion of duty-free tariff-rate quotas on raw sugar in EU trade agreements. Without such actions, our sector faces a perilous future. ESRA would like to thank all those who attended, and MEPs Sofia Ribeiro and Christofer Fjellner for facilitating this timely event.