Sugar makers threaten to strike

Latvian farmers said they were determined to make their case heard in early March by going on strike or blocking borders if the government failed to deal with the looming crisis on the national sugar market.

The Agricultural Organizations' Cooperation Council last week sent a letter to the government stating their key demands concerning sugar, milk and cattle industries.

If the demands are not met in two weeks, farmers said they would stage mass protests.

Latvia's sugar market has historically been trouble for governments due to the high prices for Latvia-made sugar. Local confectioners, who are required to use only locally produced sugar for domestically sold products, said they are at a distinct disadvantage when competing with imported sweets.

The entire industry, according to Latvian confectioners, who have threatened to pack up production and move to a neighboring country, faces collapse.

Sugar-beet farmers, sugar mills and candy producers want the government to follow through with the decision by the previous government and compensate candy producers for sugar prices as well as to introduce a sugar tax. If not, "it will be the end" of the sugar industry, according to Uldis Caune, deputy board chairman of the Sugar Beet Farming Association, who was present at the AOCC meeting.

"The strike is not an end in itself. It's a tool because we have no other option," he said.

The government, insisted Caune, must make the decision to solve the sugar problem as soon as possible as farmers must decide whether to grow sugar beets this season.

Agriculture Ministry State Secretary Laimdota Straujuma, who was also present at the AOCC meeting, said the Agriculture and Finance ministries were working to determine how much money will be required to introduce the sugar tax.

She also said that Latvia could do the opposite and "open its borders" for sugar imports, canceling the ban on imports of sugar for domestic production and sale purposes.

Other options to normalize the situation are also being considered at the moment.

The Latvian government has not yet made any decision about possible solution to the sugar crisis.