The EU sugar market is definitely regulated by quotas which imposed limits on production of beet sugar. However, since September 30th, production and export restrictions have been lifted included in the Common Agricultural Policy reforms. European sugar groups can now produce and export as much as they need. Traders have previously said that they think this move will significantly boost production and lower the cost of sugar to EU consumers.

Unfortunately, this isn't going to assistance to solve the huge obesity problem which has reached epidemic proportions in the united kingdom and many countries throughout Europe and also the US. Just at any given time when the Government is likely to impose a sugar tax on sodas and beverages, we are flooded with cheap sugar that will probably find its way into processed food, confectionary, cakes and biscuits.

I think it is extraordinary that, on the one hand, the Department of the Environment and Rural Affairs is welcoming the quota lifting, as the Department of Health agonises about how to reduce sugar content within our national diet. As far as I know, this proceed to lift production restrictions was not widely newsworthy among the member states or perhaps been aware of – instead, it was a choice made by bureaucrats in Brussels.