Cereal starch sweetener sector slams looming sugar reform
sugar reforms, due for Council decisions at the end of November,
could unfairly penalise the sector.
Leading companies led by the Association des Amidonneries de Céréales (AAC) are calling for Member States to recognise that the isoglucose production increase currently proposed by the reform will not be enough to allow them to cope with the competitive impact of expected sugar price cuts.
In addition, the sector is worried that the ruling will not take into account potential losses in other cereal starch sweetener sectors, in particular glucose syrups in the fermentation sector.
They claim that any production increase granted by the reform should be sufficient to compensate all cereal starch producers.
"We are trying to take a reasonable view in all of this and, of course, we recognise the overall need for sugar reform - so we are not arguing against the fundamental principles," said AAC managing director Lorenza Squarci.
"However, our need for equitable treatment is in danger of being overlooked: in reforming the sugar part of the industry, the Commission is undermining the viability of the cereal starch sweetener part. The maintenance of quotas on isoglucose will restrict competition."
Without a substantial increase - beyond the currently proposed 300,000 tons - the industry fears the consequence may be major job losses, from 2006, among its 15,000 employees in 17 companies across Europe. A further blow will be to the industry's capacity to invest in R&D and develop European green chemistry based on cereal starch applications.
The cereal starch sweetener industry has almost 40 manufacturing sites across Europe. Between them, they produce five million tons of natural sweetening products per year - accounting for 70 per cent of their overall total production, including isoglucose.
These natural products are produced from over 13 million tons of European cereals. In addition, the starch industry uses crops grown on more than two million hectares, i.e. roughly the same area used to grow sugar beet.
"We know there will be a serious impact on our industry if the reforms go ahead in their current guise," said Squarci. "We are working hard to get the Commission and Member States to realise that we need to be allowed a substantial increase in isoglucose production - beyond the originally proposed 300,000 level - in order to ensure our competitive position is retained."
The 17 companies making up the membership of the AAC, Association des Amidonneries de Céréales de l'UE, the trade association representing the interests of the European cereal starch industry, produce virtually all of the EU's cereal starches and starch derivatives, using maize, wheat, barley and rice.
Their annual raw material input is over 13 million tons of cereals. Their output is 7 million tons of more than 600 different starches and starch derivatives - including co-products such as corn gluten feed and wheat gluten, which are sold both in food and non-food applications.
The role of the AAC is to ensure that the regulatory framework in which its member companies operate is adapted to their needs and that their competitiveness in European and foreign markets is not impeded by legislative decisions. This includes legislation related to trade, food law matters and environmental rules.
The Association des Amidonneries de Céréales (AAC) is now holding urgent meetings with the Commission in a bid to avoid what it claims would be an unfair penalisation of the starch industry. The prices of Europe's cereal starch sweetener industry are closely related to those of sugar.
