E-Malt.com News article: 1577

Comparison of malt export licence fixation. From July 1 to August 28, 2003, EU maltsters booked export licences for about 893,230 tons of malt.  That is at least 40 % of the expected export volume for the crop year.  Outstanding countries were France with 383,150 tons against a total of 661,770 tons last year, and Belgium with 176.450 tons versus last year's total of 287,850 tons.  Licence bookings included 370.000 tons of long-term licences, which require a bank guarantee of EUR 24 per ton versus EUR 5  for the short-term export permit.  Malt export licences are fixable at a value of zero, which means no refund and no export tax.  When the Commission cancelled all zero licences for grain exports on the August 1 and replaced them by "dash"-licences, maltsters were afraid that the measure would be applied to malt as well.  By an unfortunate transmission error it seemed indeed that malt was part of the new scheme.  The correction came quickly, but obviously too late to dispel the maltsters' distrust in the Commission's policies.  After the recent remarks of Commissioner Fischler that export taxes are not envisaged, it seems logical that the system of malt licence bookings will not be changed.  Regrettably it will be impossible this year to observe the pace of malt shipments by the usual short-term licence fixations.

(in tonnes)	2000 - 2001	2001 - 2002	2002 - 2003	July 01, 2003 - August 28, 2003
France	523,190	701,134	661,772	383,150
Germany	305,980	468,314	408,063	91,242
Belgium	277,584	296,368	287,850	176,445
U.K.	254,793	350,621	294,995	132,991
Finland	65,550	91,890	100,758	20,931
Denmark	52,326	96,812	94,791	13,400
Sweden	50,847	101,000	76,916	13,470
Netherlands	54,835	51,310	66,219	49,721
Ireland	26,003	35,145	31,140	-
Austria	4,850	8,840	8,620	1,576
Spain	3,000	2,400	5,640	10,000
Greece	1,800	1,744	1,306	200
Portugal	340	221	85	151
Italy	-	-	2	-
Total:	1,621,098	2,205,799	2,038,157	893,277