U.S. millers want European oats off the table for tariff action

U.S. millers want European oats off the table for tariff action    The North American Millers Association asked the U.S. trade representative on Sept. 24 to remove European Union oat imports from its list for retaliatory duties.
   The U.S. trade representative proposed the higher duties for EU oats in response to the enlargement of the EU and changes in the EU rice import regime.
   “Retaliating against the EU by imposing prohibitive duties on oat imports from the EU would be inappropriate, ineffective and would cause disproportionate economic harm to U.S. interests,” testified NAMA member Rick Cole of General Mills.
   “It would impact the ability of a small but vital industry to provide American consumers with a basic staple food that is wholesome and affordable, but grown in insufficient quantities here in the United States,” he added.
   The proposed duty of 1.66 cents per kilogram is equivalent to 24 cents per bushel or 14.6 percent of the value of the oats at current market values. NAMA’s oat-milling members already operate on razor-thin margins at best.
   U.S. farm programs and other government policies have discouraged oat production in recent decades. As a result, U.S. oat crops in recent years have been the smallest since the U.S. Department of Agriculture started keeping records shortly after President Lincoln created the agency.
   “It would be a cruel irony for one element of the United States government to directly encourage growers not to produce oats, only to have another element of the same government effectively eliminate an important source of oats to fill that vacuum,” Cole said.
   NAMA has 47 member companies operating 170 wheat, corn, oat and rye mills in 38 state and 150 cities. The aggregate production capacity of NAMA’s membership is more than 160 million pounds of product daily, which is about 95 percent of the total U.S. capacity.