European Sugar Production and its Control in the World Market

The European sugar industry which mainly relies on sugar beet is unique with its production quotas, minimum beet price and trade mechanisms. This study aimed to outline and specify the current production structure of the sugar quota holder system in the European Union (EU) and to determine the competitiveness and level of concentration in the system which is operated by more than a hundred sugar factories owned by approximately fifty companies. The study reveals that EU quota holder system is highly concentrated in certain regions like Germany, France, Great Britain and The Netherlands regardless of sugar-producing destinations and individual factories and is controlled by the companies/alliances operating in these regions. The study also reveals that monopoly of these regions has created unfair competition in European sugar market.