The European Union has made official the duties on rice imports from Cambodia and Myanmar. According to Italian farmers’ association Coldiretti, these two countries are responsible of unfair competition to Italian producers. Now the green light for the European Commission’s executive regulation, which is due today, is operational. This concludes a long process, formally launched in February 2018. At the time, Italy had presented the request for the reintroduction of duties invoking the safeguard clause. An instrument provided for by EU regulations if preferential trade regimes create difficulties for European producers.
THE DUTIES
A period of reintroduction of duties will be established only on milled Asian Indica rice, for no more than three years, with a scalar value of the same amount from €175 euros per tonne in 2019, to €150 in 2020 to €125 in 2021. “The mobilization of Coldiretti has led the EU Commission to recognize the economic damage due to the volumes of imports” said the President of Coldiretti Ettore Prandini.
IMPORTS PROBLEMS
In the last years, Indica rice has been arriving on the EU market from Cambodia and Myanmar in such volumes and price levels as to cause serious difficulties for European operators. Italy is the first producer with 1.40 million tons on a territory of 219,300 hectares cultivated by about 4 thousand companies. This is equivalent to 50% of total EU production.