Arable Crops
Cereals - European Union Regime
Introduction
The regime applies fully to the major grains: common wheat, durum wheat, barley, maize and sorghum. Other grains such as rye, oats, canary seed, triticale, buckwheat and millet are partly covered.
The regime also covers first stage processed cereal products such as flour, groats and meal, malt, starch, gluten and some aspects of compound animal feeds. It also covers grain substitutes such as manioc, sweet potatoes, brewers' waste, brans and sharps and milling residues.
The EC's regime was one of the first to be laid down at Community level in the early 1960s. It has retained the structure of a 'classic' Community regime: cereals are freely traded within the Community, a politically-determined common intervention price provides a floor to internal market prices, a duty system provides protection against low prices/imports and refunds are payable to help bridge the gap between the EC and world market prices for exports.
In recent years, commencing with the MacSharry reforms of the early 1990s, there has been a shift away from market support to area support via direct payments. This process was continued under the Agenda 2000 agreement of 1999 and the recent reform in 2003.
Further Reform
On 26 June 2003, EU Agriculture Ministers reached agreement on reform of the CAP, breaking the link between subsidy and production. This included a reformed Common Market Organisation for cereals, the detailed text of which was adopted by the Council in September (Council Regulation 1784/2003).
The main changes are as follows:
- intervention price maintained at 101.31 Euros/tonne;
- existing seasonal correction for intervention price ("monthly increments") reduced by 50%;
- abolition of intervention for rye.
These measures took effect from the 2004/05 marketing year. The Cereals Regime Guide provides more detail on the coverage of the Common Market Organisation.
Latest news on market and production issues in the cereals sector will added to this page when the information becomes available.
Regime Guide
The latest version
(
52KB) was published in September 2006
Contacts
Contact details (24 KB) for the Cereals Team.
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Page last modified:
7 September 2006
Page published: 26 January 2005