February 18, 2005

EU quota wheat import license to Feb 14

The European Commission has issued import licenses for 24,928 metric tons of wheat under the European Union import quota for low- and medium-quality wheat in the week to Feb. 14, official figures issued by the European Commission show Thursday.

All licenses were under the "other origins" contingent. That makes 2,131,230 tons of wheat still available until the end of the year.

The Canadian contingent did not receive any licenses, with 32,760 tons remaining until the end of the year. In the U.S contingent, 572,000 tons remain until the end of the year.

The quota, which carries an import duty of EUR12/ton, totals 2,981,600 tons, which breaks down into 2,371,600 tons for the other-origins contingent, 38,000 tons for the Canadian contingent and 572,000 tons for the U.S. wheat contingent.

The other-origins contingent is broken into four quarterly tranches, each totalling 592,900 tons, with traders able to apply for each tranche from the first Monday after Jan. 1, April 1, July 1 and Oct. 1.

For barley, the Commission awarded licenses for 3,289 tons, leaving 121,381 tons available until the end of the year.