Almost all of the Asian product benefits from zero-duty benefits.
The position
The establishment of a permanent table on rice is important to defend Italian producers from the invasion of Asian products, often cultivated by exploiting child labor and using pesticides banned in Europe, which benefits from zero duty concessions. This is what Coldiretti stated at the end of the supply chain meeting held in Rome at the Ministry of Agriculture, in the presence of the minister Francesco Lollobrigida and the undersecretary Patrizio Giacomo La Pietra, with the participation of the president of Coldiretti Piemonte and member of the national council, Cristina Brizzolari.
“Too often, Italian rice has been sacrificed – points out Roberto Guerrini, president of Coldiretti Vercelli-Biella and board member of Coldiretti Piemonte with territorial delegation to the rice sector – with respect to trade agreements with countries that do not respect the same production standards as those Europeans and who exploit the benefits to flood the EU market with low quality products which cause the prices of the national one to collapse. An example is Cambodia which in 2023 saw its exports to Italy increase by 67%, according to Coldiretti analysis on Istat data, while India even almost doubled its sales to our country (+92). This is rice grown using tricyclazole, a powerful pesticide banned in the European Union since 2016.”
“Precisely for this scenario, Coldiretti asks to establish the principle of reciprocity, ensuring that all products entering the European Union respect the same standards regarding environmental protection and respect for workers’ rights followed by Italian rice growers – explain the President of Coldiretti Novara-Vco Fabio Tofi and the Director Luciano Salvadori – It is also necessary to follow up on the choice of the European Parliament to maintain the automatic safeguard clause in the revision of the General Preference System (SPG) regulation, the measures that aim to favor the economic growth of developing countries, to allow the tariff to be triggered when the quantities of rice exceed a certain threshold compared to the previous year.
