The representative body for the UK feed industry, the Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC), said it had lobbied for the tariff to be scrapped.
It took four months of work; the trade group has actively engaged with the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the UK Department for International Trade (DIT) to obtain the removal of duties. ICE and several of its members have provided evidence to demonstrate the need to eliminate these fees.
The UK government confirmed last week that tariffs on molasses imported into the UK will now be lifted from May 20, 2021.
“This means UK importers and customers of molasses products will not be at a competitive disadvantage.
“Over the past few months, AIC has met with MPs, ministers and civil servants to get this fixed, and worked with devolved administrations and farmers’ groups to push for this change. the government has listened and corrected this tariff”, comments the AIC.
The new UK molasses tariff will not have a trigger price mechanism, like the EU’s, and will instead be a 0% tariff on all imports.
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When the UK government introduced its own tariff policy on January 1, 2021, it applied a different tariff to that of the EU on imports of molasses from third countries. As a result, molasses imported into the UK since January was subject to a higher tariff than that exported to the EU, the AIC said. “This meant higher costs for the UK agricultural supply chain in this regard.
Molasses is used in most foods as a nutritional energy source, flavor enhancer and binding ingredient in food formulation.
Implications of the EU-US dispute over molasses prices
The Irish livestock sector, heavily dependent on American molasses, reported challengesA few months ago following punitive tariffs imposed on imports of molasses from Florida, imposed as part of a long-running dispute between the EU and the United States over aircraft subsidies.
Fortunately, in March of this year there was temporary relief for US molasses end-users as the EU and its US counterparts decided to suspend tariffs for four months and agreed that a long-term solution down the line is expected to face Chinese competition.
