A mandatory code of conduct should be set up to break up a war between sugar cane growers and millers.
That's the opinion of a parliamentary inquiry into the future of the sugar industry, amid growing uncertainty and concerns about the misuse of market power by big, foreign-owned millers.
Cane farmers are concerned by the exit of the country's three biggest sugar mills from a long-held arrangement which gives them a choice on how their sugar is priced and sold.
They've lobbied the government hard against the move because it will mean companies such as Wilmar, MSF and Tully Sugar will be able to market their sugar themselves - leaving them without a say in the mechanism by which they get paid and potentially short-changed.
A Senate inquiry into the industry said while both sides may be at war with each other, cane growers and millers simply can't survive without one another.
However, while acknowledging the severe mistrust of millers by growers, the committee stopped short of calling for a major re-regulation of the industry.
In its report released on Wednesday, it said a mandatory code would allow both sides to resolve disputes while negotiating supply contracts, and would help address inequities in the bargaining process.
The code could be set up by the federal government's sugar taskforce set up to investigate the matter.
Share
