Brussels, Belgium
October 17, 2008
Mariann Fischer Boel, Commissioner
for Agriculture and Rural Development, announced that customs
duties on cereals imports will be reintroduced as a reaction to
the price decrease on the cereals market. A draft Regulation was
put to the Management Committee for the Common Organisation of
Agricultural Markets yesterday. It has now to be formally
adopted by the Commission and will enter into force on the third
day following publication in the Official Journal of the
European Union. There are no export refunds on cereals exports.
In order to promote the supply of cereals to the Community
market during the 2008/09 marketing year, Commission Regulation
(EC) No 608/2008 of 26 June 2008 temporarily suspended customs
duties on imports of most cereals for the 2008/2009 marketing
year until 30 June 2009 (see IP/08/930). This regulation was
prolonging the cereals duties suspension already put in place
since the beginning of January 2008. It also allowed the
Commission to reintroduce them in the event of disruption or
threatened disruption of the Community market.
The fob price of common wheat, recorded in Community ports since
the end of September, has gone clearly below 180% of the
reference price. Given the interdependence of the markets for
various cereals and the rapid impact of changes in the price of
one cereal on other cereals, customs duties are being
reintroduced simultaneously on all cereals.
As traders must not be penalised when cereals are already en
route into the Community. transport time will be taken into
account. Traders will be therefore allowed to release cereals
for free circulation under the customs-duty suspension regime
provided for in Regulation (EC) No 608/2008 if their transport
to the Community starts, at the latest, on the day on which this
Regulation is published.
The restoration of MFN duties for cereals would not have any
disruptive effect on the EU market or any significant impact on
prices. This precautionary measure is taken in order to avoid
undue risk while intervention mechanism will be open from the
1st November onwards.
Background on import duties which applied after the
restoration
The EU has bound tariffs for all cereals set under the GATT
agreement. However, applied rates are different. The system
originates in the Blair House Agreement between the US and the
EU and involves setting tariffs on the basis of separate world
reference prices for clearly defined cereals types. The duty is
fixed on the basis of the difference between the effective EU
intervention price for cereals including monthly increments,
multiplied by 1.55 and a representative cif import price for
cereals at Rotterdam.
The resulting duties will be set for durum wheat, high quality
common wheat, rye, sorghum and maize at the level established by
the bi-monthly fixing regulations. Tariff rate quotas were
introduced in 2003 on barley and low and medium quality wheat in
response to large imports from Community of Independent States
countries.
For medium and low quality soft wheat, an annual Tariff Rate
Quota of 2,989,240 tonnes is open, including a country-specific
quota of 572,000 tonnes earmarked for imports originating in the
United States and 38,853 tonnes for Canada.
The remaining 2,378,387 million tonnes is open to all other
third countries. The duty payable on imports under the quota is
set at €12/tonne.
For barley, annual Tariff Rate Quota of 306,215 tonnes is open
with €16/tonne duty payable. There is another quota of 50,000
tonnes of malting barley at a duty of €8/tonne.
An erga omnes duty-free quota of 242,074 tonnes of maize was
introduced in 2006 which was entirely used for 2007. |
|
