BEGHIN-SAY NOT PLANNING TO WITHDRAW SUGAR French sugar producer Beghin-Say is not currently planning to withdraw the sugar it has placed into intervention, despite the exceptionally high rebate awarded at this week's European Community (EC) sugar tender, Beghin-Say President Jean-Marc Vernes told Reuters. The maximum rebate of 46.864 Ecus per 100 kilos on Wednesday was the largest ever granted, according to traders. Vernes said he was satisfied the European Commission has started to move in the right direction, but said his company had no plans to change its decision to put sugar into intervention. But Vernes said he hoped that in the next few weeks a final agreement would be reached with the commission which would allow operators to withdraw the sugar from intervention. European operators offered 854,000 tonnes of sugar into intervention to protest about export rebates which they say are too low. Over 785,000 tonnes of this sugar was accepted by the commission on Wednesday, according to commission sources. Under EC regulations, however, operators have another four to five weeks to withdraw the sugar from intervention before payment is made for it. A total of 706,470 tonnes of French sugar and 79,000 tonnes of West German sugar has been accepted into intervention, trade sources said here. This amount represents about a third of annual EC exports to non-EC countries. Beghin-Say declined to specify the amount of sugar it had offered into intervention, but said it was below 500,000 tonnes. Producers say they have been losing 2.5 to 3.0 Ecus on every 100 kilos exported due to the failure of rebates to fully bridge the gap between EC and world prices. Wednesday's rebate was 0.87 Ecus short of what producers say is needed to get an equivalent price to that for sales into intervention, traders said. Vernes said operators hope to get a rebate which equates to the full intervention price and said Wednesday's tender was a step in the right direction. Sugar producers here said the volume of sugar authorised for export since the begining of the current campaign had been inadequate and that more should be exported now to compensate. Trade sources said new regulations governing export rebates, which are due to be adopted shortly, may smooth the path for the commission to award larger export rebates in future. One source at a leading French sugar house said it seemed the commission had understood the protest action and was now moving towards adapting the situation accordingly, thereby allowing the operators to withdraw their sugar from intervention once they got satisfaction.