The European Union’s cereals management committee voted Thursday to extend the suspension of the bloc’s import duties on feed wheat and barley until June 30, 2012, the EU’s executive said in a statement. The EU in June suspended its import duties of 12 euros per tonne for low- and medium-quality wheat and 16 euros a
EU extends zero duty on wheat, barley imports
EU may extend zero import duty on feed wheat, barley
The European Union’s cereals management committee may vote Thursday to extend a suspension of the bloc’s import duties on feed wheat and barley until June 30 2012, a draft agenda of the meeting seen by Reuters showed. In June, the EU suspended its import duties of 12 euros per tonne for low- and medium-quality wheat
EU Reform Plans Target Greener, Fairer Farm Subsidies
European Union officials want to make farm subsidies fairer and more environmentally friendly, in a bid to win support for keeping annual agricultural spending at about 55 billion euros (US$75 billion) up to 2020. Critics of the bloc s common agricultural policy (CAP) had urged the European Commission to take advantage of high global food
EU Softens Ban On Eggs From Battery Hens
An EU ban on the sale of eggs from battery chickens to consumers will go ahead as planned from Jan. 1, 2012, but producers may be free to sell non-compliant eggs to domestic processors, the bloc s consumer affairs chief said Oct. 5. The commission does not intend to postpone the deadline of the ban.
Biodiesel’s “Green” Attributes Trashed By Four EU Studies
Europe’s biodiesel industry could be wiped out by EU plans to tackle the unwanted side-effects of biofuel production, after studies showed few climate benefits, four papers obtained by Reuters show. Europe’s world-leading $13-billion biodiesel industry, which has boomed in the wake of a decision by Brussels policy-makers in 2003 to promote it, is now on
G20 Leaves Biofuels Industry Unscathed
PARIS/REUTERS The biofuels industry emerged relatively unscathed from a meeting of G20 agriculture ministers June 23, which ignored advice to scrap biofuels subsidies on the basis they force up food prices. The warning against biofuels targets and subsidies in places such as Europe, Canada, India and the United States had appeared in a report to
EU Clinches Deal On New Food-Labelling Rules
European Union negotiators reached a deal June 15 on new food-labelling rules, which aim to fight rising levels of obesity in Europe by helping consumers to make more informed purchasing decisions. Under the agreement, all food products must carry labels showing their energy, salt, sugar, protein, carbohydrate, fat and saturated fat content, EU officials with
Mercosur Trade Deal To Cost EU Farmers
European farmers could lose more than three billion euros in annual revenue by 2020 under any free trade deal between the European Union and Latin America’s Mercosur region, a study for the EU’s executive showed. The deepest losses would be felt by beef producers in Ireland, Britain and France, hit by a predicted 200,000-tonne annual
Britain Adds Voice To Criticism Of EU GM Crop Plans
Britain has become the latest European Union country to raise serious doubts over proposals to let EU governments decide individually whether to grow or ban genetically modified (GM) crops. Several large EU countries including France, Germany and Spain have already criticized draft legislation tabled by the EU executive in July, which would allow governments to
EU experts approve trace GM in feed imports
A European Union committee voted Tuesday to allow traces of unapproved genetically modified (GM) material in animal feed imports, the European Commission said, in a bid to secure grain supplies to the import-dependent bloc. EU governments and lawmakers now have three months to either approve or reject the committee’s decision, before the rules can be
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