Brussels, 29/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - During its next meeting on 8 November, the EU management committee is due to vote on a regulation to suspend for the first six months of 2013 (in other words the third and fourth tranches of the 2012/2013 marketing campaign) the customs duties applied to the tariff rate quotas (TRQs) for medium and low quality soft wheat. This measure is aimed at reducing the tension that exists on the European cereals market and at calming the stock-farming sector. On Thursday 25 October the management committee discussed a working document on the suspension of these customs duties. Last May the EU suspended the customs duties applied to the TRQs for medium and low quality soft wheat. If the vote is in favour on 8 November, the EU should therefore prolong the existing situation of suspending customs tariffs on this type of cereal. It should be noted that the customs duties for barley (€16/tonne) were suspended for the whole campaign - in other words until the end of June 2013.
This measure focuses on a limited volume of cereals (1.189 million tonnes). The preferential duties for these cereals, which amount to €12/tonne, will thus be reduced to zero for the volumes authorised in the framework of the quotas. For some cereals, the EU has established tariff quotas - in other words an import quota at a lower tariff than normal. For medium and low quality soft wheat there is an “erga omnes” (open to all) annual tariff quota of €2.4 million tonnes subject to a duty of €12/tonne. Within this overall volume, a specific quota per country is foreseen up to 572,000 tonnes for imports coming from the US and up to 38,853 tonnes for Canada. (LC/transl.fl)