Sugar policies opportunity for change

Sugar is one of the most policy distorted of all commodities, and the European Union, Japan, and the United States are among the worst offenders. But internal changes in the E.U. and U.S. sugar and sweetener markets and international trade commitments make change unavoidable and provide the best opportunity for policy reform in several decades. The nature of reforms can have very different consequences for developing countries. If existing polices in the E.U. and the U.S. are adjusted to accommodate higher imports under international commitments, many low-cost producers, such as Brazil, will lose because they do not currently have large quotas and are not included among the preferential countries. The benefits of sugar policy reform are greatest under multilateral reform, and according to recent studies, the global welfare gains of removal of all trade protection are estimated to total as much as $4.7 billion a year. In countries with the highest protection (Indonesia, Japan, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and the U.S.), net imports would increase by an estimated 15 million tons a year, which would create employment for nearly one million workers in developing countries. World sugar prices would increase by as much as 40 percent, while sugar prices in countries that heavily protect their markets would decline. Developing countries that have preferential access to the E.U. or U.S. sugar markets are likely to lose some of these preferences as sugar policies change. However, the value of preferential access is less than it appears because many of these producers have high production costs and would not produce at world market prices.Crops&Crop Management Systems,Food&Beverage Industry,Agricultural Industry,Agribusiness&Markets,Environmental Economics&Policies,Crops&Crop Management Systems,Agribusiness&Markets,Food&Beverage Industry,Environmental Economics&Policies,Agricultural Trade

Impacts of the EU sugar policy reforms on developing countries

This report analyses the impacts of the Commission's July 2004 proposal for sugar policy reforms on developing countries. The study uses three approaches that complement each other: model simulations, literature review and country case studies. Model simulations indicate that the consequences of the EU policy reform on EU imports are rather modest: imports from LDCs increase but to a lesser extent than the Commission and other studies indicate. Important trigger points in the evaluation of the impact on trade flows are the degree of substitutability between domestic EU sugar and imported sugar, and potential 'swap' or trade diversion effects. Welfare effects are minor to ACP countries as a group, but country effects may differ strongly. The study includes three case studies - Ethiopia, Mauritius and Brazil, representing an EBA, an ACP and a net exporting country with no preferences to the EU market - to show how EU policy changes may affect the sugar industry in each of these countries.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Economic and social problems of Puerto Rico

This item was digitized by the Internet Archive. Thesis (M.B.A.)--Boston Universityhttps://archive.org/details/economicsocialpr00ort

Une méthodologie pour la réutilisation et la valorisation des cités ouvrières. Le cas de Hershey, à Santa Cruz del Norte, Cuba

This work focuses on the enhancement and reuse of company towns through the study of the Hershey Sugar Company Town in Santa Cruz del Norte, Cuba. The thesis responds to the current need to rescue and protect the abandoned and deteriorated heritage of the sugar industry in Cuba. After the economic restructuring of the sugar sector carried out in 2002, many sugar mills were abandoned or demolished and the cultural consequences were devastating. Each sugar mill is attached to a human settlement in a codependent and indissoluble unit. Following the abandonment and demolition of the sugar factories, the surrounding local population has faced the severe consequences of social, economic and urban dysfunctionality. The productive, urban, and socio-economic configuration of these sugar settlements responds to archetypal models of company towns. In Cuba, this phenomenon is mainly linked to the American capital that invaded the country in the first half of the 20th century. In order to achieve a proposal that solves the problems of the Hershey Sugar Company Town, a research on the specific characteristics of such productive settlements was carried out. The study of three examples of Italian company towns allowed the identification of good practices for revalorization processes. The final result was the conception of a methodology for the possible enhancement and reuse of the Hershey Sugar Company Town; Résumé: Ce travail aborde la question de l’amélioration et de la réutilisation des cités ouvrières au travers du cas de la Cité Ouvrière Hershey à Santa Cruz del Norte, sur l’île de Cuba. Ce mémoire se préoccupe du besoin actuel de sauver et de protéger le patrimoine abandonné et détérioré de l'industrie du sucre à Cuba. Après une restructuration économique de l’industrie sucrière en 2002, de nombreux moulins à sucre ont été abandonnés ou démolis. Les conséquences culturelles ont été dévastatrices. À côté de chaque moulin à sucre se trouvait un établissement humain si dépendant du lieu de production qu’il en était devenu indissociable. Suite à l'abandon et à la démolition des usines de sucre, cette population locale a souffert des répercussions du dysfonctionnement social, économique et urbain. La configuration productive, urbaine, économique et sociale de ces établissements industriels fait écho aux modèles des cités ouvrières. À Cuba, ce phénomène est principalement lié au capital américain qui a envahi le pays pendant la première moitié du XXème siècle. Afin d’apporter une solution aux problèmes présentés par le cas d'étude, une recherche a été réalisée sur les caractéristiques spécifiques de ce fonctionnement productif. L'étude de trois exemples de cités ouvrières italiennes a permis d'identifier les bonnes démarches à suivre lors des processus de requalification. Le résultat final se présente sous la forme d'une méthodologie pour améliorer et réutiliser la cité ouvrière Hershe