Under the EU sugar regime, each member state has a quota for manufactured sugar. There is no quota for sugar beet. The EU regulations stipulate that the quota must be made available to the sugar manufacturing enterprises in the member state. Accordingly, in Ireland the entire sugar quota is processed by Irish Sugar Limited, which is the only sugar manufacturer in this country.
Under the EU regulations a member state may reduce the "A" and "B" quotas of each sugar manufacturing enterprise by not more than 10% of the "A" quota or the "B" quota as the case may be. The effect of this limitation is that a new entrant to the sugar processing industry in this country could be assigned no more than 10% of the Irish sugar quota.