ORAMA has presented alarming reports on widespread drops in prices for grain and oil and protein seed crops.  The farmgate price for maize has gone down to less than €100/tonne,  i.e. 25 euros less than in 2006.  At the same time there has been an increase in production costs (e.g. fertilizer and energy) which are going up even faster, and this development is clearly leaving farms in dire financial straits.

Under such circumstances, it was therefore legitimate for European import tariffs on grain, that had been suspended when prices were high, to be reintroduced, as had been requested by ORAMA.
 
But this will not be enough to reverse the market trend, as the provisional balance figures for the season in France look serious, and large quantities of grain could be earmarked for intervention stocks at the end of the season.  In such a situation, the ex-storage agency price would then be in the vicinity of 100 euros a tonne, with farmgate price in these conditions being 80 euros.

Everything that can be done must be done, by both the European Commission and all players in the sector, so that our grain can be sold at a good rate and in particular on the export market.
               
Pascal HURBAULT - tél : 01 44 31 16 25