Concerns Fiji-UK sugar deal unsustainable
Updated
There is growing doubt among Fiji's cane growers they can provide enough sugar to meet contract requirements.
The Fiji Sugar Corporation has signed a deal to provide a United Kingdom refining company with around 300,000 tonnes of sugar a year for seven years.
Our Pacific correspondent Campbell Cooney reports that questions have been raised about how the deal has been described by politicians and media in Fiji.
The deal has been reported by some outlets in Fiji, and the region, as being negotiated with the European Union.
The acting head of the EU delegation for the Pacific has refused to comment, but another EU source has told Radio Australia that Europe has had no involvement in this deal, and is not the buyer.
Last year the EU told Fiji that subsidy payments for this year's sugar crop worth an estimated $US30 million would rely on Fiji holding elections next year.
An EU delegation visited Fiji a fortnight ago to investigate progress towards elections, and was informed the date the interim government committed to is unlikely to be met.
Europe will have another group in the island nation next week, investigating the rule of law.
