EC SUGAR TENDER SEEN MARKING NO CHANGE IN POLICY
The maximum export rebate granted at
yesterday's EC sugar tender marked no change in policy over
producer complaints that they are not obtaining the EC
intervention price in exporting sugar outside the Community, EC
Commission sources said.
    The maximum rebate was 46.496 Ecus per 100 kilos for
118,350 tonnes of sugar, down from 46.864 Ecus the previous
week, but the change is explained by world market conditions.
    Producers claim the rebate was short of the level needed to
obtain a price equivalent to the intervention price by over one
Ecu per 100 kilos, and was 0.87 Ecu short the previous week,
the sources said.
    They said this was despite the fact that the Commission had
to accept 785,000 tonnes of sugar into intervention from
operators protesting that rebates are too low.
    Operators have now until early May to withdraw this sugar.
But they have not given any sign of planned withdrawals unless
the Commission reviews its export policy, they said.
 REUTER
