EU May Consider Re-introduction Of Cereal Import Tarriffs

EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel has said that she was keeping the door open to restore import tariffs on cereals "if needed."

"We are following the market closely, week by week, to see how things are developing," she said.

"The prices are different in different regions of the European Union, therefore there are some tensions in some areas. We have not definitely abandoned the possibility of coming back to the issue," she added.

The EU suspended tariffs on most grain imports at the start of the year, and that decision was subsequently extended to the 2008/2009 (July-June) season. However, grain prices have fallen considerably since then and some EU countries are calling for import duties to be restored.