EC TO ABOLISH TAX ON SPANISH MAIZE EXPORTS
The European Community Commission has
decided to abolish a special tax of eight Ecus per tonne
imposed on exports of Spanish maize, Commission sources said.
    They said the tax, which applies to Spanish sales to EC and
non-EC countries alike, would no longer be required on exports
from Spanish ports south of Valencia.
    The decision was taken at a meeting of the authority's
cereals management committee today.
    The tax had been introduced last September at the same time
as a subsidy of eight Ecus per tonne was brought in for exports
of maize to Spain from other EC member countries.
    The aim of the tax was to prevent the maize imported into
Spain from the other EC states with the help of subsidies from
being reexported back to them.
    The sources added that Spain had received no answer from
the committee to its request that tenders be opened for the
sale to third countries of 450,000 tonnes of maize.
    The request will be considered at the committee's next
meeting, the commission sources said.
    Madrid estimates that it needs to import 1.7 mln tonnes of
maize this year, while an EC-U.S. accord guarantees non-EC
producer sales to Spain of two mln tonnes of maize and 300,000
tonnes of sorghum annually for the next four years.
 Reuter
