Food importers stress security needs in WTO talks

Leading rich nation food importers, including Japan and Switzerland, are insisting their need to ensure supplies in times of shortage must be taken into account in global farm talks, trade sources said yesterday.

The Group of 10 food importing countries told negotiators at World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks that if they are going to cut support to their farmers and rely more on imports, they had to be sure that the food they needed would be available.

"Trade liberalisation completely alters the premises of food security, and if access to food supplies cannot be guaranteed, the balance of interests is upset," trade sources quoted them as telling the closed-door talks in a statement.

At issue was the question of export restrictions which producer countries can impose under existing trade rules and which the importer group wants modified.

The group has suggested that the restrictions be replaced by a system of export taxes, which would at least ensure importers access, albeit at a higher cost.

But the US opposed taxes, saying that they distorted trade, the sources said.

Colombia, a major coffee exporter, defended the use of both restrictions and taxes to ensure that its domestic processing industry was sufficiently supplied with raw material, they added.