The opinion on sugar quotas is split, but the majority of member states advocate extending the system through 2020 to finish restructuring of the sector, the ministry said in a press release after the meeting.

Bogovič said that if the quota system is extended, appropriate solutions should be found for member states like Slovenia which had discontinued sugar beet production as part of the 2006 sugar market reform.

His statements come amidst calls from farmers for a return of sugar production six years after Slovenia's sole sugar factory in Ormož shut down.

They argue that sugar prices have surged since quotas were introduced, and they complain that the absence of sugar beet makes it more difficult to do crop rotation.