The European Commission (EC) on Monday presented to the Member States of the European Union (EU) an agreement with Thailand on a new regime for imports of rice into the EU.

The agreement establishes bound rates for husked rice, semi- milled and milled rice and broken rice, said a press release issued by the EU executive.

"For semi-milled and milled rice, the EU will adjust every six months the applied tariff rate to 175 euros (around 210 US dollars) per ton or 145 euros (around 174 US dollars) per ton based on a comparison of actual imports and a reference import level," said the press release.

The agreement will open a zero duty quota of 13,500 tons and allocate 4,313 tons to Thailand.

For broken rice, the EU will apply a duty of 65 euros per ton, and will increase the reduced duty quota to 100,000 tons.

"I am very pleased with the outcome of these negotiations, which ensures that our interests are safeguarded while at the same time successfully completing the necessary changes to our bound duties for rice in accordance with WTO rules," said Mariann Fischer Boel, EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development.

For semi-milled and milled rice, the reference import level for six months is 182,239 tons.

For broken rice, the reduced duty is 45 euros per ton, and the reduced duty quota will rise to 100,000 tons from 80,000 tons at present, said the EC.

Source: Xinhua