E-Malt.com News article: EU: EU Commission to vote on temporary suspension of feed barley import duties

The European Union is drafting proposals to temporarily suspend import duties on feed wheat and barley to secure sufficient animal feed amid tight supplies and high global prices, Reuters communicated on February, 10.

The European Commission said it had raised the idea, at a meeting of the EU's cereals management committee, of suspending duties of 12 euros per tonne on feed wheat and 16 euros per tonne on feed barley until June 30, 2011.

"This is a reaction on the tight supplies on world cereals markets, and the idea of the proposal is to help facilitate feed cereals imports from outside the EU and so to reduce tensions on the European markets," the Commission said in a statement.

The proposal is likely to be put to a vote by EU government experts at the management committee's next meeting on Feb. 24, the Commission said.

Strong exports from major EU producers France and Britain in the early part of the 2010/11 campaign have led to tight supplies within Europe, raising the prospect of imports from countries such as Canada and Australia.

EU feed makers have lobbied the Commission to suspend the duties In recent months as surging feed prices stoked fears of a sharp fall in the bloc's livestock herd.

Until now, the EU executive has rejected the move, saying it would have little effect on prices in the 27-nation bloc.

The Commission said it would propose suspending the bloc's 12 euro per tonne tariff for low- and medium-quality wheat, which is applied to the EU's annual tariff-rate quota (TRQ) of 2,989,240 tonnes.

Of the total quota, 572,000 tonnes are earmarked for imports from the United States, 38,853 for imports from Canada and the remaining 2,378,387 for imports from other countries.

Less than 2 percent of the 2011 import quota for feed wheat had been taken up by Feb. 7, a Commission official said.

The EU's annual import quota for feed barley is 306,214 tonnes, said the official.

The last time the EU suspended most of its grain import tariffs was in 2008 in response to tight supplies and soaring world prices.


11 February, 2011