WTO Members Urge India to Submit Timely Notifications on Sugar Subsidies
A group of WTO member countries, including Brazil, Canada, and the European Union, have urged India to submit timely notifications on sugar subsidies. The issue was discussed during the WTO's agriculture committee meeting in Geneva on May 23-24.
These countries, also major sugar exporters like India, allege that India's support measures distort global sugar trade. They urged India to submit timely notifications on the subsidies, according to a Geneva-based official.
India has stated that the Indian central and state governments do not pay for or procure sugarcane from farmers. All purchases are made by private sugar mills, hence, this information was not included in its notifications of domestic support.
This discussion is significant as India has appealed against a 2022 WTO ruling that its domestic support measures for sugar and sugarcane are inconsistent with global trade norms. The appeal was filed in the WTO's Appellate Body, which is the final authority on such trade disputes but is currently not functioning.
Brazil, Australia, and Guatemala had filed the cases against India on these support measures.
In its appeal, India has stated that the WTO's dispute panel ruling has made certain "erroneous" findings about domestic schemes to support sugarcane producers and exports. India finds the panel's findings completely "unacceptable."
The US and Australia have also presented a joint counter notification regarding India's sugar subsidies. Their study claims that over the four-year period from 2018-19 to 2021-22, India has provided market price support on sugarcane in excess of the limits set out in the Agreement on Agriculture (10 per cent of the total value of sugarcane production) by a margin of 92-101 per cent.
They claimed that India failed to report any of these subsidies in its past notifications since 1995.
Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Paraguay, New Zealand, the EU, and Guatemala voiced support for the counter notification.
India has said it refused to consider the methodology used in the 2018 dispute as the basis for discussion, given that India has appealed the case to the appellate body.
New Delhi has also questioned why Australia and the US insisted on using the Indian rupee for calculations, given that the currency was heavily impacted by inflation.