Targets for OECD Sugar Market Liberalisation

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Prepared for the Global Alliance for Sugar Trade Reform and liberalisation.

The world sugar market has long been recognised as one of the most
distorted global commodity markets. It is the disruptive policies of the European Union (EU), the United States (US) and Japan that cause most of these distortions. Policies offer very high rates of protection to domestic producers by imposing severe import restrictions and by providing other measures such as export subsidies or production quotas designed to help raise domestic prices above the world price.
The level of trade protection has risen in recent years as the world price of sugar has fallen. Protection costs affect sugar exporting nations dearly, making it the single biggest issue confronting exporters. This report aims to identify major targets for liberalisation to help identify priorities for reform.