Cereal sector reform to be completed

At the March 19th 2003 EU Agricultural Council meeting Commissioner Fischler put the case for a further 5% reduction in the EU cereal price by arguing that if prices were allowed to find their own level, this would enable 'EU cereals to price themselves into both internal and external markets'. This would remove entirely the need for export refunds in the cereals sector. Comment: This final round of cereal price reductions will complete the ten-year process of bringing EU prices into line with world market prices, doing away with the need for export refunds and tariff protection and setting the stage for a further expansion of EU cereal-based value-added food product exports. Developments of EU exports under these new circumstances will provide a foretaste of what will happen in other sectors over the next ten to twenty years as the process of CAP reform is rolled forward in other sectors.At the March 19th 2003 EU Agricultural Council meeting Commissioner Fischler..