Brussels, 21/12/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 20 December, the EU Council of Ministers adopted without debate the regulation that suspends import duties on all cereals except oats, buckwheat and millet for the current marketing year (2007/2008) ending 30 June 2008. The Commission had put the proposal forward on 26 November, and the special agriculture committee (SAC) approved the text on 3 December. The regulation aims to relieve current tension on EU cereals markets (caused by two poor harvests in succession and the strong surge in prices on the internal market and global market).
Although the current levels of border protection for cereals are rather low, import duties are still applied for certain types of grains that are important for the balance of the EU market. “Suspending import duties will facilitate cereals imports from outside the EU and take some of the pressure off European grain markets. We have now had two low European harvests in a row and prices are high both at home and on world markets”, Mariann Fischer Boel, European Agriculture Commissioner, explained. Provisions are in place to allow the Commission to restore customs duties in the event of upheavals on the Community market.
Global cereal prices have risen considerably since the beginning of the 2007/2008 marketing year with increases of 50% for soft wheat, 30% for barley and between 20-30% for maize. European cereal production for the 2007/2008 marketing year is estimated at 258 million tonnes, i.e. a fall of 8 million tonnes (3%) compared to the harvest in 2006/2007, which was also not bountiful. (L.C.)