Caribbean sugar producers are outraged at the European Union's decision to slash sugar prices in an overhaul of its sugar subsidy regime. The EU, which has long been offering sugar prices to the region’s farmers at preferential rates said on Thursday that it will cut prices by 36 percent. They said this move would strengthen its position in upcoming World Trade talks in Hong Kong. Last month, the World Trade Organization ruled that EU sugar subsidies were illegal as they make it impossible for producers in other countries to compete. The EU had originally proposed to cut the prices by 39 percent over a two-year period. The sugar producers in the African, Caribbean and Pacific trade group presented a proposal to EU agriculture ministers for a 19 percent reduction over eight years, but this seemed unlikely. "They have clearly looked after (their) own farmers and left us in the cold. This is devastating news," said Ian McDonald, director of the Sugar Association of the Caribbean. Draconian The EU has offered the 19 ACP sugar producers $47million to help cushion the impact of reform, but the ACP dismissed this amount as "paltry". Caribbean sugar producers say they could lose $153 million annually under the new regime. OECS ambassador to Brussels and ACP chairman George Bullen called the EU cut a "draconian measure". "They are taking from the poor and giving to the rich. This is outrageous. We are dismayed," Bullen told the Associated Press news agency. Caricom leaders, who are now meeting in Malta at the Commonwealth Summit, said they will take their case to the WTO ministerial trade meeting in Hong Kong in December. Under the old system, sugar production was supported by generous EU subsidies and import tariffs, all of which will be phased out over a four-year period starting in 2006. EU sugar prices are more than three times higher than the global market rate. Brussels also pays out export subsidies to get millions of tons of sugar a year off its market. Reprinted from bbccaribbean.com