FEED GRAINS

The Uruguay Round agriculture agreement will establish disciplines in the areas of market access, export subsidies, internal support, and sanitary and phytosanitary measures. In addition, countries have made a number of commitments that will benefit U.S. agricultural exports. Highlights for the U.S. feed grains industry, whose 1992 exports totaled $5.8 billion, include the following:

Key Developments for U.S. Exports:

• EU Export Subsidies Cut: The European Union will reduce the quantity and budgetary outlay for export subsidies from the current level. In the year 2000 the EU's maximum annual allowable quantity of subsidized coarse grain exports will be 9,973,000 tons, a 2,651,000-ton reduction from 1986-90 level.
• EU Maintains Terms of Previous Corn and Sorghum Access Agreements: The European Union will maintain the Enlargement Agreement in the form of a minimum purchase requirement for 2 million tons of corn and 300,000 tons of sorghum, with adjustments for imports of corn gluten feed and other non-grain feed ingredients. The EU will also maintain the terms of the Portuguese corn quota, requiring the purchase of 500,000 tons.
• EU Maintains Access Opportunities: The European Union will preserve import access opportunities for corn, barley and rye by fixing the relationship between the duty-paid import price and the support price for these products.
• Japan Increases Access for Industrial Use Corn and Barley: Japan will increase its current 3,750,000-ton zero-duty quota for industrial-use corn by 450,000 tons by the year 2000, with the increased amounts to be imported under the "new-use" category. 330,000 tons of this increase, or 60% of the total new-use quota, will be free from the blending requirement. Japan will also increase its current 1,318,000-ton tariff-rate quota for barley by 8,500 tons each year of the implementation period, for a final tariff-rate quota of 1,369,000 tons in the year 2000.
• Korea Reduces Tariffs on Corn and Mixed Feeds: Korea will reduce the in-quota tariff on feed corn and popcorn from an applied rate of 3% to a final rate of 1.8% over 10 years. The tariff-rate quota for these and other corn products (excluding seed but including groats and meal, corn starch and dried sweet corn) will be 6,102,100 tons. Inclusion of groats and meal, corn starch and dried sweet corn in the aggregate corn quota will translate into an immediate tariff reduction for these products, since the in-quota tariff rate for corn other than feed corn and popcorn will be 3%. Korea will also reduce the tariffs on mixed feeds for swine, poultry, and cattle from 7% to 4.2%
• Korea Opens Market for Barley, Other Than Malting: Korea will establish a tariff- rate quota for barley and barley products, other than malting barley and barley malt, of 14,150 tons growing to 23,582 tons.
• Philippines and South Africa Establish Access Opportunities: New access opportunities will be created for corn in the Philippines and South Africa. The Philippines, which currently bans imports, will establish a tariff-rate quota starting at 130,160 tons which will grow to 216,940 tons during the implementation period. The in-quota tariff will be 35%. South Africa will establish a tariff-rate quota for 260,000 tons, with an obligation to lower the duty to zero if the quota does not fill. South Africa imported no corn during the 1986-88 base period.
• Poland Guarantees Continued Access for Corn: Poland will establish a tariff-rate quota for 250,000 tons of corn.
• Tunisia Guarantees Continued Access for Barley: Tunisia will establish a tariff-rate quota for 200,000 tons of barley.
• Morocco Guarantees Continued Access for Corn: Morocco will establish a tariff-rate quota for 204,000 tons of corn.

U.S. Commitments:

• Market Access: The United States will reduce its tariffs for feed grains by between 55% and 75%, in equal annual installments beginning in 1995.
  • Yellow corn: Base duty of 0.20 cents/kg reduced to 0.05 cents/kg
  • Barley: Base duty of 0.34 cents/kg reduced to 0.15 cents/kg
  • Grain sorghum: Base duty of 0.88 cents/kg reduced to 0.22 cents/kg
  • Millet: Base duty of 0.70 cents/kg reduced to 0.32 cents/kg
  • Oats: Currently no tariff
  • Canary seed: Base duty of 0.26 cents/kg reduced to 0.12 cents/kg
• Export Subsidies: The United States will establish quantity and budgetary outlay ceilings for subsidized exports of coarse grains (including barley malt). The final year commitments are the required 21% and 36% below the 1986-90 base for the quantitative and budgetary commitments, respectively. The annual allowable quantities and expenditures will be the following:

(Note: This fact sheet is a summary of Uruguay Round highlights; it does not reflect all results.)
June 1994

Last modified: Friday, November 18, 2005