A manifesto signed by heads of delegations called on their governments to pursue the issue in world trade talks in November. "A dialogue should be started that will allow the survival of average cost producers and prevent protectionist policies and the extension of export subsidies that undermine the objectives of the WTO (World Trade Organisation)," the manifesto said.

WTO members are to meet in Seattle, United States, in November to kick start a new round of free-trade negotiations. Agriculture -- still a highly protected industry in rich countries -- will be high on the agenda.

Philippine Sugar Millers Association executive director Jose Maria Zabaleta said themanifesto was a cry for understanding from Asian sugar producers who were swamped by a flow of subsidised sugar into world markets.

"Sugar is the most distorted commodity in the world and many negotiators, ministers of agriculture included, do not realise this," Zabaleta said in an interview.

Asian delegates said sugar prices, which tumbled to around 13-year lows this year, should not be used as a benchmark for further tariff cuts because they did not reflect production costs.

The manifesto blamed volatile prices on "fluctuations in prices of residual sugar from countries where production was distorted by subsidies and other political and non-economic factors". Industry analysts said the manifesto was a wake-up call for governments in the region to come to terms with how to shape their industries as world trade became more liberalised. "Any proposal on how to proceed with these negotiations is welcome," said Peter Baron, executive director of the International Sugar Organisation, a group of producerand consumer governments.

A core theme at the conference was that heavily subsidised sugar from the European Union had found its way into Asian markets such as India, causing world prices to weaken. The United States and Japan also have highly protected sugar markets.

"Both the EU and the US have sugar regimes which have contributed substantially to undermine the world sugar market, which is currently in crisis," said Mike Young, from Britain's state-controlled Commonwealth Development Corporation.

European delegates defended their regime and said support prices were being lowered and output was set to fall. But already, some Asian governments are coming under pressure to reverse sugar tariff cuts made in the last round of world trade talks, or as a condition of soft financial aid, and to rebuild protectionist walls around their struggling industries.

A Philippine industry delegate said the government was moving toward reversing its tariff-cuts commitment to the WTO. "If the government continues topush for the reduction of tariffs, then we will not be competitive," said president of the Philippine Sugar Millers Association V Francisco Varua. In Indonesia, where sugar tariffs have been cut to zero as a condition of International Monetary Fund aid, the sugar industry is also lobbying the government to rebuild tariff walls.