Sugar producers try to sweeten exports with subsidies

Representatives of all Poland's sugar mills announced yesterday that they w ere ready to subsidize exports of the entire national oversupply of sugar on condition that the Agriculture Ministry lowers the price they have to pay to farmers and raises the intervention price. The sugar mountain stands at 270 ,000 tonnes and growing, while a year ago it was 150,000 tonnes. The sugar mills have decided that the only way to regulate the market is to export the 270,000 tonnes at global prices of around zl.1 per kilo, double the minimum price in Poland. In addition to the price demands, they are also calling on the Ministry to lower the production limit for iso-glucose by 17.53% - the same ratio by which the limit of sugar for the domestic market is to decrea se. The sugar mills' proposal is the first such joint initiative by Polish and foreign-owned mills. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 14) T.J.