Estonia will bring a case to the European Court of Justice after the EU rejected its plea to reduce the size of the sugar surplus that was allegedly built up in the Baltic state before it joined the bloc, officials said Friday.

"I dont think the EU sugar management committee decision was fair and Estonia will dispute the decision in the European Court of Justice," Estonian Agriculture Minister Ester Tuiksoo told AFP.

The EU sugar management committee on Thursday fixed 91,464 tons as the size of the Estonian sugar surplus, rejecting the argument that a large part of it had been bought up by private individuals to make jam and syrup.

If the surplus is pegged at around 91,000 tons, Estonia would have to pay a penalty of approximately 715 million kroons (46 million euros, 58.6 million dollars).

Estonia could escape paying the penalty if the surplus stock has been eliminated by the end of November.

Tuiksoo said the views of Estonia and the European Commission "about speculative activity and the amount of sugar on the free market differ".

"We continue to hold the view that all the EU legal acts on sugar stock concern only the sugar held by companies," she said.

"To consider private consumption as excessive stock is not in harmony with EU law and past practices during previous enlargements of the EU."

Tuiksoo said she considered Estonia had "a good chance to win in the European Court of Justice".

The Estonian Foreign Ministry has two months to file suit with the European court to contest the inclusion of sugar stocked by private individuals in the overall surplus.

The European Commission is expected to announce its decision about the size of Estonia's excessive sugar stocks on May 31 or June 1.

The EU kept checks on sugar stocks ahead of enlargement on May 1 last year, when the addition of 10 new countries swelled the bloc's membership to 25. The checks on sugar were aimed at preventing companies from stocking up and selling subsidised sugar that was imported from the EU before accession.

Estonia has ordered 27 businesses to pay fines for excessive stocks of sugar, but most of them have contested the order in court.

"We are trying to do all we can to get the penalty from the companies that have stocked up sugar for speculative purposes," Tuiksoo said.

The other new EU member countries that risk being fined for surplus sugar stocks are Cyprus, Latvia, Slovakia and Malta.