SUGAR INDUSTRY: CROATIA EXPORTING DOMESTIC SUGAR

ZAGREB, July 17 (Hina) - Last year Croatia exported 40,000 tonnes of exclusively domestically produced sugar and there can be no dispute about whether the exports were of domestic origin, Croatian Sugar Industry (CROS) president Stevan Roz said on Wednesday, dismissing claims by some European Union countries that Croatia is exporting smuggled sugar. #L# There was no reason for the introduction of deposit fees for sugar from Croatia by some EU countries, Sugar Industry officials said. Roz said that the economy and agriculture ministries had prepared data that would be presented before the European Commission in Brussels in an effort to prove that Croatia is only exporting sugar produced in its three sugar factories (Virovitica, Zupanja, and Osijek). "We expect that after that the EU will cancel the fee of EUR10,000 per truckload for sugar exported to those countries," Roz added. Speaking about problems on the domestic sugar market, Sugar Industry officials pointed to the problem of high imports, which they said resulted from low protective measures that Croatia had accepted upon accession to the WTO. Last year's sugar imports totalled 31,000 tonnes. At the same time, Croatia imported 40,000 tonnes of glucose syrup, which is seven times more than the amount imported before admission to the WTO. However, the sugar industry will try to fight the problems with increased production and calculative prices, the sugar industry officials said. (hina) sp rml