EU: The enlargement of the European Union will change some trade channels, but will not have a very large impact on barley markets. The new countries will be inside the EU customs walls, which permit barley imports of 300,000 tonnes per year at a tariff of EUR 16 per tonne, additional imports would cost EUR 93 per tonne. This will virtually stop Black Sea barley imports into Cyprus, Malta, also into Poland and the Baltic States. Trade inside the EU had already been facilitated by “double profit” quotas in the past and will now become larger along established routes.

14 May, 2004