RE: [Marxism] Question for Joaquín Bustelo (was If Marxism is a Science...)

[Joaquín Bustelo <jbustelo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sure. Most sugar and equivalents (such as high fructose corn syrup) are
produced for domestic markets. Something like 90% or more of sugar that
is traded internationally is in bilateral deals for access to
quota/tariff protected markets where the internal price can  be double,
triple or more the world market price. Only the remainder, the surplus,
actually goes on the "world market." Political factors (Cuba) weighed
especially heavily in how this market is constituted. So in the U.S. a
U.S. producer of sugar water like Coke or Pepsi can't just go to the
"world market" and buy -- you can't import it freely or even paying a
normal tariff. Ditto for Europe, although domestic factors were probably
of paramount importance there. Given this, however, the amount that
actually trades at "world market prices" is small, making it not a very
good source for large countries.

The EU in particular has been overproducing sugar for decades and
dumping it on the world market at prices that are a small fraction of
European prices and costs of production. The WTO finally got around to
ruling this illegal, and Europe just adopted a new sugar regime in the
last few days whose details I'm not familiar with except it has farmers
up in arms. 

The net result of all this is that countries that are efficient sugar
producers have been driven from the industry except where they have
deals with the U.S. or EU, less efficient producers in the U.S. and
Europe have been handsomely rewarded for their inefficiency and
expanded. And consumers pretty much everywhere have gotten royally
screwed.

J.

-----Original Message-----
From: marxism-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:marxism-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Ed George
Sent: Friday, December 02, 2005 2:36 PM
To: marxmail
Subject: [Marxism] Question for Joaquín Bustelo (was If Marxism is a
Science...)

Joaquín (or anyone else): can you explain the concept of 'thin remnants
market' a little more?

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