Import levies removed on industrial-agro products

The schedule for dismantling import levies on a wide range of industrial-agro products was published in yesterday's Government Gazzette.

It covers a wide range of industrial-agro products, including such staple items as flour, cooking oil and margarine, mayonnaise and salad cream, pasta, biscuits, ice-cream and beer.

Primarily, the list covers those processed food products that are not linked to local agricultural production and which, hence, are not covered within the Special Market Policy Programme for Maltese Agriculture (SMPPMA) drawn up by the ministry of agriculture and fisheries, the economic services ministry said.

The schedule was discussed with the Federation of Industry, Chamber of Commerce and with the GRTU.

Import levies, on those products listed in the schedule covered by the legal notice, will be decreased, on average, by 10 per cent on September 1, 2002, by another 10 per cent on January 1, 2003 and by a further 10 per cent on July 1, 2003.

This will amount to a cumulative reduction of 30 per cent in the relevant import levy by July 1, 2003, with the remaining 70 per cent of the current levy due to be removed completely upon Malta's accession into the EU, which is scheduled for January 1, 2004.

"The above levy reductions will translate into a direct benefit for Maltese consumers while prompting local industrialists to intensify their endeavour to restructure their operation, this being (under all scenarios) the only realistically feasible path to secure their long-term viability," the ministry said in a statement.