The EU sugar sector faces its biggest change in decades. On 1 October 2017 EU sugar production quotas will end. At this sensitive and uncertain time, the European Commission has proposed to vote in the Management Committee of 27 April 2017 on the introduction of ‘temporary’ measures (tenders for imports at reduced duties) to increase the supply of sugar on the EU market.

Press Release

A  letter was sent on Friday 24^th, February 2017 by 7 partners representing Europe’s Biofuels Value Chain (FEDIOL, EBB, ePURE, EOA, CIBE, CEPM MAIZ EUROP' and CEFS) on the key principles for the discussion on the post-2020 EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED II). You can download the letter here.

On January 26, 2017, CIBE participated in a workshop entitled “Barriers and Opportunities to Valorising Agri-food wastes, co-products and by-products (AWCBs)” in Brussels, Belgium. The workshop brought together key players to identify important resources, constraints and opportunities to developing novel value chains and creating sustainable business models.

You can download the presentation here.

The EU beet sugar sector has a long tradition of valorising all products arising from the processing of sugar beet, while keeping the use of inputs to an optimum. The Beet Sugar sector thus already applies the principles of the circular economy and waste reduction, anticipating and leading the way towards higher resource efficiency and waste elimination.

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Copa & Cogeca reject plans to cut by almost half targets for conventional biofuels used in transport by 2030 warning it will jeopardise EU climate and energy targets #NobiofuelNofood

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CIBE CEFS have just issued a Press Release reacting to the Commission JRC Report on Cumulative economic impact of future trade agreements on EU agriculture recently published.  

You can download the Press Release here.

You can download the full JRC study here.

The Agricultural Markets Task Force (AMTF), chaired by Cees P. Veerman, presented today its report “Improving market outcomes - Enhancing the position of farmers in the supply chain” to the EU Agri Commissioner.

The AMTF stressed current issues and concerns faced by farmers and made recommendations, some of which reflect first moves to tackle unfair trading practices, contractualisation issues and competition law applied to agriculture so as to strengthen farmers’ position and ensure fair balance along the supply chain. Recommendations focusing on market transparency, risk management and futures instruments also add to the debate on volatility.

CIBE will continue to contribute to the discussion with the aim to provide beet growers with the appropriate regulatory framework and tools to face the post-2017 era.  

You can download the report here.

The small town of Moyvillers, in the Oise, was, for two days, on the 26th and 27th of October, the capital of the sugar beet industry thanks to Betteravenir 2016, the European sugar beet field exhibition organized by the French Sugar beet Institute (ITB) and the Royal Belgium Institute for Sugar beet (IRBAB).

The end of the European quota system is soon to come and the environmental restrictions are getting more complex. In this strongly evolving context, Betteravenir will bring together both the agricultural and agroindustrial sectors, to give practical solutions for the future. The event will take place the 26th and 27th of October in Moyvillers, in the Oise region, in France.

You can download the Press Release. More information is available on the website: www.betteravenir.com

The Commission has today hosted a Joint Meeting of the Civil Dialogue Group and the Sugar Expert Group, bringing together stakeholders and Member State officials to discuss the opportunities and challenges from the abolition of the EU sugar quota regime at the end of September 2017.

It followed the 2006 sugar reform which facilitated important restructuring of the sector across the EU (reducing production quotas by almost 6 million tonnes), making the sector more competitive and putting it in an economic position to move to a post-quota environment. The decision to abolish the sugar quota system - the only CAP quota regime still in place - was postponed by two years by Ministers and MEPs in the 2013 CAP Reform.

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