The interests of producers of sugar beet are fully protected as sugar production in 1995-99 was 4.2 to 14.7 million tons and the EU quota is several times higher than these figures, announced Minister of Agriculture and forests Mehmed Dikme on Friday.

Dikme was asked by an MP in Parliament to comment on the problem with imported unrefined sugar, most of which is illegal, as well as the measures to stimulate domestic production of sugar.

The quota for sugar production that Bulgaria requested in 1999 was 250,000 tons. In 1995-99 the annual production of the commodity stood at about this figure, 98 per cent of which was produced from unrefined cane sugar and only two per cent from beet sugar. The sugar produced was enough to meet the domestic demand, Dikme said.

Consumption of white sugar in Bulgaria is 200,000 to 240,000 tons a year, which is considerably lower than the figure for the period before 1990 when it was 300,000 to 350,000 tons annually, said the minister. The Bulgarian sugar-processing plants have enough facilities to fully meet domestic demand when they use unrefined cane sugar, according to Dikme.

To stimulate the production of sugar beet in 2001, the Agriculture Fund approved a subsidy of 400,000 leva. Twenty-two contracts have been signed utilizing 220,000 leva, Dikme said. He explained that the unused money was left due to the fact that only the plant in Gorna Oriahovitsa in Bulgaria is equipped to produce white sugar from sugar beet. The Agriculture Fund's future policy will target incentives to make growing of sugar beet attractive to producers, said Dikme.

Meanwhile, tapping unused resources of the Agriculture Fund for 2001, its board of directors has decided to release 10.6 million leva under two credit lines for assistance to farmers, announced Dikme on Friday. The money will be divided equally for the purchase of wheat seeds and fertilizers for winter and spring wheat. In addition to the two credit lines, 3.53 million leva will be available in a direct subsidy. A mere 10 per cent of the land has been cropped and there is a risk that the land under wheat may be 30 or 35 per cent less than last year.

The credit lines and the subsidy will cover 80 per cent of farmers' outlays according to the fund's standards for expenses per hectare. It is out of the question to adjust assistance to the extent of damage caused by the drought in individual regions because resources are strictly limited, Dikme said.

He added that under an agreement with the Finance Ministry, all producers hit by the drought will be exempted from VAT. Agriculture Ministry statistics show that the drought destroyed nearly 120,000 ha of maize and about 44,000 ha of sunflower.