This morning I held meetings with NFU Sugar and the Managing Director of British Sugar to discuss the closure of the Cantley factory and the impact this will have on workers and farmers across Norfolk.
NFU Sugar tells me this move is short-sighted. I challenged British Sugar on their decision considering they have recently invested £11 million in the Cantley factory and it services some of the best beet growing farmland in the country.
Unfortunately, British Sugar say they are responding to a decline in the domestic market. In November last year, the Labour Government extended the Autonomous Tariff Quota of sugar imports from other countries from 260,000 tonnes to 325,000 tonnes. Cantley factory produces around 130,000 tonnes per annum. This seems like a poor error on the Government's part.
I am following up my meetings with a letter to the Managing Director of British Sugar highlighting my continuing concerns with this proposal.
