The European Commission has started to compile data needed to determine the EU's carryover of "C" sugar stocks in 2004/05 and may discuss draft figures with EU member states this week, officials said on Tuesday.
In the first quarter of each year the national sugar authorities of the EU's 15 member states are obliged to submit data giving their carry-over expectations to the EU executive.
This year the Commission took slightly longer than usual to compile the data as some countries with longer beet processing campaigns such as Britain were given an extended deadline.
"The deadline (to submit data) was the end of February but there are extensions for Britain and Spain, for example," a Commission official said.
Representatives from the national sugar authorities of the EU's member states are due to hold their bi-monthly meeting in Brussels on Thursday where the European Commission may present draft carryover figures, even though they might not be complete.