The UK has called for the EU to suspend import tariffs on grains and rethink its biofuels policy to counter food inflation.
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“It is our belief that in this time of considerable food inflation the EU should suspend its tariffs on agricultural commodities,” a spokesperson for the treasury told just-food. “Moreover, we maintain that the EU’s biofuels targets should be re-examined in light of rising food costs.”
With the EU’s finance ministers due to meet in Brussels later this week, the UK’s finance minister Alistair Darling has written a letter to his European counterparts calling for action on soaring food prices.
While the EU agreed in December to temporarily drop import duties on cereals – except oats, buckwheat and millet – Darling has said that this does not go far enough.
“It is unacceptable that at a time of significant food price inflation the EU continues to apply very high import tariffs on many agricultural commodities,” he wrote.
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By GlobalDataDarling called for an end to policies, such as direct payments to farmers, that are designed to keep farm prices artificially high in the EU.
“Barriers and distortions in the global food market increase volatility and stifle the incentives to increase supply to match demand,” he wrote.
Darling also called for the EU to look at the “direct and indirect effects of EU biofuels policy,” including its impact on food prices.
The UK has said that it doesn’t want to go beyond 5% biofuels use until it is satisfied that production is sustainable. This contrasts with the EU’s target to increase production to 10% by 2020.
Last month, the Department of Transport told just-food that it was embarking on a review of the impact biofuels production, notably its effect on food production.
