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EU reintroduces duty on rice imports from Cambodia, Myanamr

BRUSSELS, Jan 17 (KUNA) -- The European Commission has decided to re-introduce import duties due to increase of imports of INDICA rice from Cambodia and Myanmar into the EU.
The decision published in the EU Official Journal Thursday said that as of tomorrow (Friday) the EU will reinstate the normal customs duty on this product of 175 euro (USD 199) per tonne in year one, reducing it gradually to 150 euro (USD 170) per tonne in year two, and 125 euro (USD 142) per tonne in year three.
The EU's executive body said it found that imports of Indica rice from both countries combined have increased by 89 percent in the past five rice-growing seasons.
At the same time, it found that the prices were substantially lower than those on the EU market and had actually decreased over the same period.
This surge in low-price imports has caused serious difficulties for EU rice producers to the extent that their market share in the EU dropped substantially from 61 percent to 29 percent.
Indica rice is grown mostly in tropical and subtropical regions and accounts for more than 75 percent of global trade in rice.
Cambodia and Myanmar are beneficiaries of the EU's Everything But Arms trade scheme, which unilaterally grants duty-and quota-free access to the world's least developed countries.
The initial request for trade safeguards on rice imports was tabled by the Italian government in February 2018 and supported by all other EU rice growing Member States, Spain, France, Portugal, Greece, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. (end) nk.mt