Oxfam: Sugar subsidies deny poor farmers earnings
14/04/2004 - 10:06:12The development charity Oxfam has criticised the European Union's sugar industry for subsidising its farmers, as it believes the system denies farmers in poorer countries access to the market.
Oxfam says EU taxpayers are in effect giving a $1bn (€0.83m) in a year in subsidies.
The charity claims the money allows a few large firms to make big profits by selling sugar to European consumers at three times the world price.
At the same time, it says, lower cost sugar producers in poor developing countries are denied access to European markets by high import tariffs.
