Italy millers slam ‘unfair’ EBA

9 July 2014

Cambodia duty-free rice exports to the European Union have this week come under fresh attack from producers in Italy, who say the beneficial treatment is restricting the potential of Italian rice exports.

An Italian agriculture collective of farmers, which includes representatives from the Italian Association of Rice Industries, will protest in some of Italy’s largest rice-growing areas. The cause of the uproar, says Oryza, is the preferential treatment Cambodia receives under the European Union’s everything but Arms scheme, which allows tax-free access to EU markets for all states on the UN’s list of least developed countries, which includes Cambodia.

Italian rice producers say cheaper Cambodian imports create an unfair playing field for their products. Cambodian rice exports, a large majority of which go to the EU, have increased dramatically, going from 200,000 tons at the end of 2012 to nearly 380,000 tons at the end of last year.

Van said Cambodian exports had merely replaced those from countries, such as Thailand, that exported less than before. Therefore, he said, market pressure on Italian farmers would have changed little from previous years.

Source:

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/italy-millers-slam-%E2%80%98unfair%E2%80%99-eba