EC Proposes Suspension Of Import Duties On Most Cereals

The proposal will have to be approved by the Council of Ministers, hopefully during the December 18 meeting.

"I hope this proposal will help facilitate cereals imports from outside the EU and reduce tensions on European grains markets," said Mariann Fischer Boel, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development.

At the start of the 2007/2008 marketing year in July, total stocks (private + intervention) were 13.2 million tons below the level registered during the same period a year ago, following the modest harvests of 2006/07 and the significant withdrawals from EU intervention stocks.

In 2007, unfavorable weather conditions reduced 3.5% the harvest and overall EU production, to 256 million tons compared to the previous year.

Since the start of the new marketing year, the price of milling wheat in Rouen has risen from EUR179 per ton to almost EUR300 per ton at the start of September 2007. In Germany, bread-making wheat was selling at 70% higher than the previous year by mid-August.