The European Union will become a net sugar exporter after output quotas are ended in 2017 but volumes will depend on EU and world prices, freight and exchange rates and competition from cereal-based sweeteners, delegates at a conference said. 

Production and export quotas for sugar and cereal-based sweeteners will end in 2017 after the European Union agreed sweeping changes to its Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which involved liberalising sugar production and cutting subsidies to the largest farms. 

Ajay Chaudhary, a senior trader with commodities house Bunge, told the Platts Kingsman EU sugar seminar that EU sugar exports post-2017 could be 2.5 million to 5 million tonnes, depending on prices at the time. The EU is now a net importer.