News • March 7 2004

EU tariff scare and the 300 tonne beef shipment
Matthew Vella

A shipment of 300 tonnes of Canadian beef ready to be shipped to Malta, worth CAD$5 million (Lm1.3 million), may well be the first casualty of the exorbitant common external tariff imposed by EU on non-EU beef.
Beef importers and restaurateurs have expressed serious worries at the imposition of high duties and tariffs on beef that is imported from outside the EU. One restaurateur who has ordered a three-year supply of beef, totalling 300 tonnes, which is due to arrive after Malta’s accession into the EU on 1 May, 2004, could be liable to a duty 15 times higher than the present levy. The total payment is roughly calculated at Lm448,400, a far cry from the Lm30,000 that would be paid under the present levy mechanism.
The EU’s common external tariff is a mechanism which places a high tax on non-EU products, such as those from producers in the countries with a reputation for good quality beef including Canada, New Zealand and Argentina. The aim is to persuade importers to opt for EU beef, in order to boost internal trade between EU members.

At present, all imported beef in Malta carries a levy of 10c per kilo. In 2003, Malta imported over 5.5 million kgs (5,500 tonnes) of beef from the international market. Malta also purchases EU beef at the lower, external price of EUR2.5 per kilo. Whilst beef in the EU is traded at the internal price of EUR4.5, the cheaper external price serves to boost the EU’s competitive edge against other beef producers in the international market. On May 1, all levies will be dismantled, but non-EU beef will carry a duty of 12.8 per cent on value, as well as a tariff on every kilo of beef imported. Malta will also start purchasing its beef at the higher internal price.
The 300 tonne shipment, originating from Canada, will carry the 12.8 per cent duty as well as an additional EUR2.21 (Lm0.94) tariff per kilo. Maltese importers and restaurateurs speaking to MaltaToday said the duties and tariffs will render the importation of non-EU beef unfeasible.
But there is also great bitterness in learning that EU accession has brought with it the impending high tariffs on non-EU beef, of which Malta imports several thousand tonnes from high-quality producers such as New Zealand and Canada.
Many said they are still not informed about the reality they will be facing once the grand celebrations that will crown Malta’s entry into the Europe of 25 are over. Importers such as David Borg, managing director of Valhmor Borg Importers, said they were still not informed as to how the EU quotas, the limit imposed on EU members on the amounts of non-EU beef that can be imported, will be managed.
Speaking to sister newspaper The Malta Financial and Business Times, David Borg said the quotas would limit the feasibility of importing non-EU beef at the high duty and tariffs. Borg said his company had asked the government authorities about how these regulations will be put into action, but failed to get any answers: “We still don’t have any answers on how the quotas will be allocated and distributed. I have asked hundreds of questions and I still have no answer on what we can expect.”
The Ministry for Environment and Rural Affairs confirmed to this newspaper that quotas will be allocated to importers according to criteria which differentiate between long-standing, traditional importers and non-traditional importers.

matthew@newsworksltd.com