Waubonsee Community College

Sugar, the rules of the game, produced by Meritxell Ribas, A Televisio de Catalunya Production

eng

videorecording

For College; Adult audiences

Sugar

electronic resource

794307651

produced by Meritxell Ribas, A Televisio de Catalunya Production

33

Global business and economics in video

the rules of the game

Sugar examines the complex world of international commerce by looking at the major players in the sugar industry -- European and African farmers, major sugar production companies on both continents, experts and officials. The report shows how decisions made at distant international meetings affect the lives of individuals. Antonio Maolela cuts sugar cane on a plantation in Mozambique. He earns about two euros a day working from dawn til dusk. Honorio Valdunciel is a farmer from Zamora, Spain whose main source of income comes from growing sugar beet. Though he makes a decent income, it requires hard work and much investment. The future of both men is tied to the controversial price of sugar in world markets. Sugar prices in the European Union and the U.S. are highly protected by tariffs which block competition. Their internal price of sugar is three times higher than international market prices because beet sugar is much more expensive than cane sugar. Paradoxically, Europe is the world's biggest exporter of sugar because of subsidies. This lowers world market prices and makes things even harder for more efficient Third World producers. Many southern countries, organizations and NGOs have publicly denounced what they see as unfair international trade rules which favor the rich

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