Although the first half of the 1990s proved to be extremely turbulent and destabilising for the agriculture sector, by the end of that decade macroeconomic stabilisation had been achieved. Agricultural policies were liberalised as part of the overall reform: previous production and supply control systems were dismantled and price interventions scaled down and re-instrumented. Trade policy liberalisation removed ICM export taxes, licensing and quantitative restrictions on agro-food. It also abolished state control of wheat, sugar and ethanol trade.