Fiji sells sugar to Portugal

Press, 23 October 1984, Page 20

Fiji sells sugar to Portugal

NZPA special correspondent Suva Fiji will sell Portugal 112,000 tonnes of sugar over the next four years. Under the contract, 28,000 tonnes a year for the next four years will be shipped to Portugal at the free market price, says Mr John May, managing director of the Fiji Sugar Marketing Company. The free market price for sugar is 5c a pound. “They have signed the contract there and the papers are now being sent to us for signing,” said Mr May. The first shipment, of 14,000 tonnes, is due to go in January. Mr May said Fiji would review the contract after

two years. “At the moment, Portugal is negotiating to join the E.E.C. and there is intense pressure on Portugal to buy its sugar from the E.E.C. countries,” Mr May said. Portugal’s application to join the EKC. is still being considered but the tentative date for it to join is 1986. If Portugal joins the E.E.C., it will have to pay Fiji the special price E.E.C. countries pay Asian-Carib-bean-Pacific (A.C.P.) countries for their sugar under the Lome agreement. This was the main reason for the deal with Portugal, Mr May said. The fixed price which E.E.C. countries pay under the Lome agreement is much higher than the free market price. c