EU import duty above zero for maize, sorghum and rye
This week, the European Commission announced that the import duty on maize, sorghum and rye is to be set at €5.32 /tonne. For the last four years, there was no import duty on these raw materials.
The decision is based on the basic Regulation and comes in response to the situation on the world markets for maize and the resulting low prices. Moreover, maize, sorghum and rye are not subject to export refunds.
The European Union (EU) has bound duties for all cereals set under the GATT agreement. For many months (since 17 August 2010), the resulting duty for maize has been set at 0 EUR/tonne. The duty for sorghum and rye has also been set at 0 EUR/tonne since 19 October 2010. Since 1 July 2011 (2011/2012 marketing year), the representative cif import price for sorghum and rye has been equal to the representative cif import price for maize. Since that date, therefore, the import duty for sorghum and rye has been equal to the import duty for maize.
The individual tariff quotas are not affected by the measure. A duty-free quota of 277,988 tonnes of maize, split into two equal tranches open to all non-EU countries, is opened each year on 1 January. By 4 July 2014, the quota had been taken up in full.
2011/2012 Marketing year | 2013/2013 Marketing year | 2013/2014 Marketing year | |
| Maize | 6.3 | 11 | 14.2 |
| Sorghum | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Rye | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| The quantities imported by the EU (millions of tonnes) | |||
[Source: European Commission]
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