December 19, 2003

European Union Issues Wheat Licenses For 41,262 MT

The European Commission issued in the week to Dec. 15 licenses to import 41,262 metric tons of wheat under the European Union wheat import quota for low- and medium-quality soft wheat, according to Commission figures Thursday.

The wheat was issued under the "other origins" contingent of the quota, bringing the total tonnage of import licenses issued under this contingent up to Dec. 15 to 191,548 tons for the fourth-quarter tranche, with 769,415 tons still available. This contingent was on Nov. 20 opened up to imports from the U.S. and Canada, with 37,200 tons of this weeks allocation made up of Canadian wheat.

The total of Canadian-origin wheat licenses issued under this contingent since Nov. 20 stands at 49,478 tons in the week to Dec. 15.

Oct. 6 was the first time that traders could apply for licenses from the fourth-quarter tranche of the other origins' contingent of wheat import licenses under the E.U.'s low- and medium-quality soft-wheat import quota.

The contingent, which totals 2.3716 million tons per year, is broken into four separate tranches of 592,900 tons, with traders able to apply for each tranche of licenses on the first Monday after Jan. 1, April 1, July 1 and Oct. 1.

The Commission also awarded import licenses for 5,868 tons of U.S. wheat under the U.S. contingent, bringing the total awarded since the beginning of 2003 to 42,911 tons.

The U.S. sub-contingent totals 572,000 tons.