The European Association of Sugar Manufacturers (CEFS) has called for the suspension of raw sugar imports under the Inward Processing Procedure (IPP), the organisation said in a post on LinkedIn.
CEFS, which has represented beet sugar manufacturers in the European Union and Switzerland since 1953, urged authorities to “close the loophole that lets duty-free raw sugar enter the EU for processing,” stating that the current system distorts the market and bypasses domestic production.
The organisation also called for an end to what it described as unsustainable trade deals, urging policymakers to stop or reassess agreements that grant significant concessions while EU sugar beet acreage continues to decline.
“We can’t protect European farmers and manufacturers if we keep the back door wide open. Our market is at a breaking point, and we need to reactivate our trade defenses now. To restore balance, we are calling for these two urgent actions,” CEFS said.
It added that the proposed steps are not intended to close the EU market but to restore basic market balance during a period of crisis.
The Inward Processing Relief (IPR) scheme allows companies to import sugar at zero duty and without quantity limits, provided it is refined or processed into food products and then re-exported outside the European Union.
International Confederation of European Beet Growers (CIBE) has already supported suspending the IPR scheme, saying the measure is necessary under current conditions.
According to Reuters, the European Commission is planning to propose a temporary suspension of duty-free imports to ease pressure on European producers. European Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Christophe Hansen said last month on X that he would propose suspending the sugar inward processing regime to support producers.
