Import Duties and Export Restrictions

Import Duties and Export Restrictions

Variable import duties applying to imports of high quality wheat, durum wheat, rye, maize and sorghum.

This system originates in an agreement between the USA and the EU and involves setting tariffs on the basis of separate world reference prices for clearly defined types of cereal: high quality common wheat, durum wheat (high, medium and low quality), maize, flint maize, sorghum and rye. The duty applied to EU cereal imports is fixed on the basis of the difference between the EU intervention price (101.31 €/t) multiplied by 1.55 and a representative cif (i.e. cost, insurance and freight) import price at the port of Rotterdam: of high quality common wheat for the duties of high quality common wheat and all durum wheat classes, of maize for the duties of maize, rye and sorghum. The representative cif price comprises three elements: its price on a world reference market, plus the cost of freight to a US export port (US Gulf or US Great Lakes/Duluth) plus the cost of freight between the US port and Rotterdam. This total is then converted into euros from dollars at the daily $/€ exchange rate. Therefore, variable import duties are based on two calculations reflecting the two different segments of the market:

  • For cereals mainly used for human consumption, the cif import price of high quality common wheat is used for the calculation of the duties of all durum wheat classes
  • For cereals mainly used for animal feed, the cif import price of maize is used for the calculations of duties of maize, rye and sorghum. The following reductions apply to the fixed import duties:
    • -3 €/t if the port of unloading in the EU is located in the Mediterranean (beyond the Strait of Gibraltar) or Black Sea and if goods arrive via the Atlantic Ocean or via the Suez Canal
    • -  €/t if the port of unloading in the Union is located on the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula, in the UK, Ireland, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Finland or Sweden and if the goods arrive via the Atlantic Ocean
    • -24 €/t on flint maize meeting certain specifications. Within six months it must be processed into: – prepared foods obtained by swelling or roasting – groats or meal – worked grains (hulled, pearled, sliced or kibbled).