The talks, initiated by the Global Sugar Alliance grouping of top sugar producers, including Australia, Brazil and Thailand, want the EU to explain the out-of-quota exports, which the alliance sees as illegal under World Trade Organisation rules.
"There was supposed to be a technical meeting that the Europeans have sought to defer, so from our point of view they've failed to come up with an argument that supports their case," Ian McMaster, chairman of the Global Sugar Alliance, told Reuters on the sidelines of an agricultural conference.
He gave no new date for the talks.
Australia, Brazil and Thailand last week complained to the World Trade Organisation's dispute settlement body over the EU's exports but stopped short of further action and instead called for an explanation from Brussels.
The European Union's executive approved last week export licences for 99,871 tonnes of out-of-quota sugar, completing its controversial export of half a million tonnes of sugar. It cited exceptional market conditions as the basis of its decision, as sugar prices soared to their highest in nearly three decades.
"From our point of view this is clearly a breach of the undertakings with respect to the WTO disputes panel and we will be pushing our governments as strongly as possible that this position doesn't get any worse and they go back to abiding by the umpire's rules," McMaster said.
McMaster also had doubts about the EU's argument.
"It is difficult to know whether that ever actually held true because their reporting of domestic prices is three months in arrears so you don't actually find out what the domestic pricing arrangements are until after the event," he said.
Raw sugar futures have tumble, finishing near a three-month low on investment fund sales and news of sizable deliveries in the expired March raw sugar contract, a sign of weakening demand. (Reuters)
