Report reveals paddy over rice price intervention

Date: 08/05/03

By David Cronin

PLANNED measures for protecting European rice growers from falling prices are ineffective, according to a new European Parliament report.

Spanish MEP Carlos Bautista Ojeda, the report's author, takes issue with a European Commission proposal to eliminate the current system under which the EU intervenes in the market by buying up rice stocks to maintain price levels.

Instead, one of the replacement measures would be a far less generous "safety net" whereby rice would be bought in only when it falls below €120 per tonne for two weeks in a row (the intervention price is now around €300 per tonne).

The EU is currently a net importer of rice.

The Commission's proposal is designed to prepare for the situation expected to arise after 2006, when the "Everything But Arms" (EBA) decision comes into effect, allowing produce from the world's least developed countries tariff-free access to the Union's markets.

Bautista, of Andalucian party Partido Andlusista, wants to maintain the status quo: his report argues the proposals would lead to many producers incurring losses.

"Intervention should continue to be used to regulate the markets, in order to ensure that EU rice is competitive," he says.

Planned measures for protecting European rice growers from falling prices are ineffective, according to a new European Parliament report.