ABSTRACT
British sugar policy is as old as slavery itself. Within 40 years of the abolition of slavery in its colonies, Britain had removed all preferences on imports of sugar, with the result that colonial sugar had to compete with other foreign sugar on the British market. This policy of free trade in sugar was very beneficial to Britain for, not having an industry of its own, it was able to secure supplies from the cheapest sources, which invariably meant continental beet sugar. By 1939, exports from the colonies and Commonwealth countries accounted for 50 per cent of UK sugar imports. During the Second World War, the UK Government undertook to purchase all the exportable surplus sugar produced by Commonwealth sugar producers. The 1951 Commonwealth Sugar Agreement provided a preferential market in the UK and Canada for sugar from Commonwealth countries at reduced rates of import duties.
