THE fierce war of words between Greencore and the Irish Farmers Association over sugar prices has reached a new level of intensity, with IFA president Mr John Donnelly accusing Greencore chief executive Mr David Dilger of "arrogance".

According to Mr Donnelly, Greencore has dismissed the farmers demands for £5/tonne price increase for sugar beet and said that the company is making a profit of £17/tonne on every tonne of beet processed, equivalent to a profit of £300 an acre.

"I want to tell Mr Dilger that despite the monopoly status of Irish Sugar, IFA will not allow the interests of growers to be stream rolled to further boost Greencore profits," said Mr Donnelly. He described as "objectionable" comments by Mr Dilger in a Farmers Journal interview which alleged that the IFA's claim for a £5/tonne price increase was driven by internal factors.

"While farm income nationally has increased by about 25 per cent over the past five years, the Sugar Company's own figures show that the gross margin from beet in 1995 was actually lower than in 1991," Mr Donnelly stated.