Citing the old concepts of food sovereignty, protection is being given to the inefficient production of the few while the consumption capacity of the poorest is punished.
Thursday, January 8, 2015
EDITORIAL
As expected, the government of Luis Guillermo Solís has decided to apply the safeguard measure requested by rice farmers, increasing the tax paid on imports of milled rice from 35% to 62%, which in practice only applies to rice bought in Argentina and Uruguay.
With the measure, which will run for four years, most of society, especially the poorest, will continue subsidizing a small group of privileged businessmen who have not been able to produce rice competitively.
The resolution published in the the official newspaper La Gaceta states: "... Excluded from the application of the definitive safeguarding measure ordered through this resolution are the following origins, as stipulated in Article 9 of the Agreement on Safeguards 1, for as long as assumptions of the ruling persist: Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador, South Africa, Paraguay, Vietnam, Thailand and Mexico .... "
"... Likewise, also excluded from the application of the safeguarding measure are imports from Central America and the United States of America under the CAFTA quota, as established by the General Treaty on Central American Economic Integration, Article 3 of the Central Regulation Action and the Free Trade Agreement between the United States of America, Central America and the Dominican Republic (CAFTA). (Annex II to this resolution). "
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In Costa Rica, the Chamber of Commerce opposes the agreement signed between the rice sector and the government, which maintains the fixing of the price and the 35% tariff on grain imports.
The decision was made on August 23rd in the framework of the meeting in which the National Production Council (CNP), the National Rice Corporation (CONARROZ) and the Ministries of Economy, Industry and Commerce (MEIC) and Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) participated.
The Solis administration has raised the import tariff on brown rice to 47%, arguing "a disproportionate increase in its import volume".
The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock has decreed a special safeguard for imports of brown rice, effective from 6 September to 31 December 2107. Imports from the US, Chile, Mexico and Central America were exempted from the measure. The measure involves raising the tariff to 46.67%.
The Economy Ministry has rejected a request by producers to temporarily raise the tax on imported grain, but has not ruled out doing so from December 2014.
From a statement issued by the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce (MEIC):
The Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce (MEIC), through Resolution 051-2014-DM has decided, after a thorough technical analysis in which it was determined that there exists a causal relationship between an increase of the imports of husked rice contemplated and the threat of harm to the domestic industry, not to apply provisional safeguard measures on imports of the product concerned.
The National Rice Corporation is calling for the system of price regulation that protects domestic production while keeping consumer prices high.
Representatives of the National Rice Corporation (Conarroz) asked the Government to repeal the provision that any regulatory system to determine the price of rice will be eliminated this year as established by a decree issued in May.
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