EU Cereal Import Duties Are Back
Brussels is set to reintroduce import duties on cereals in an attempt to prevent any further falls in the price of grain to farmers.
Import duties were suspended at the beginning of January 2008 to boost grain supplies following the reduced global harvest of 2007. The price of feed wheat has more than halved since then following a massive global harvest and the general malaise in the commodities sector.
European Commissioner for Agriculture, Mariann Fischer Boel, said that customs duties on cereal imports will be re-introduced as a reaction to the cereals price fall.
It is understood that for low-grade milling and feed wheat, an annual tariff rate quota of 2,989,240t will apply, of which 572,000t are earmarked for imports from the United States and 38,853t for Canada.
The duty on wheat payable on imports under the quota is set at €12/t. For barley, an annual tariff rate quota of 306,215t is open, with €16/t duty payable.
Grain already in transit by the time the regulation is published in the next few days will still be allowed into the EU without import duties applied.
EU May Consider Re-introduction Of Cereal Import Tarriffs
EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel has said that she was keeping the door open to restore import tariffs on cereals "if needed."
"We are following the market closely, week by week, to see how things are developing," she said.
"The prices are different in different regions of the European Union, therefore there are some tensions in some areas. We have not definitely abandoned the possibility of coming back to the issue," she added.
The EU suspended tariffs on most grain imports at the start of the year, and that decision was subsequently extended to the 2008/2009 (July-June) season. However, grain prices have fallen considerably since then and some EU countries are calling for import duties to be restored.
