WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/AG/S/25 
9 November 2010 
 (10-5990) 
Committee on Agriculture 
Special Session  
 
 
 
SUPPORTING DATA TO CALCULATE PRODUCT-SPECIFIC BLUE BOX LIMITS 
 
Note by the Secretariat1 
 
 
1. At the 12 February 2010 meeting of the Committee on Agriculture Special Session, it was 
agreed to request Members to submit supporting da ta necessary to calculate their product-specific 
Blue Box limits, in order to assist the ongoing agri culture negotiations.  At the 4 March 2010 meeting 
it was agreed that initially only developed country Me mbers were expected to provide their data.  The 
Secretariat was requested at the meeting of  the Committee on Agriculture Special Session on 
27 September 2010 to issue a documen t with available relevant data. 
2. Accordingly, the tables of the present paper are based on the data submitted by developed 
country Members in response to the Secretariat re quests of 14 December 2009 and 12 February 2010. 
3. The paper presents supporting data  for 1995-2000 that were submitted by the European Union 
15 (Tables 1, 2 and 3), Japan (Table 4) and Norway (Tables 5 and 6).  In the tables below, product 
descriptions have been reproduced as submitted by th e Member concerned.  The figures are shown in 
the currency submitted.  Annex 1 contains technical notes, as provided by Members. 
  
                                                     
 
1 This document has been prepared  under the Secretariat's own respon sibility and is without prejudice 
to the positions of Members or to their rights or obligations under the WTO.  
  TN/AG/S/25 
Page 2  
European Union 15  
 
Table 1:  Cereals, Oilseeds and Protein pl ants (COP) production 1995-2000 (1000 t) and possible breakdown key for COP payments in Blue Box, 1995-2000 
 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 Average % % in COP 
Cereals           
Wheat 118,955.6 123,696.4 126,388.0 134,638.0 123,820.8 132,541.3 126,673.3 49.99 45.64 
Rye 6,128.4 5,658.4 5,982.7 6,329.0 5,482.6 5,420.8 5,833.7 2.30 2.10 
Barley 43,418.3 52,664.5 52,369.9 51,555.8 48,723.2 51,364.4 50,016.0 19.74 18.02 
Oats 8,350.2 9,504.4 9,532.2 8,849.3 8,553.5 8,736.3 8,921.0 3.52 3.21 
Grain maize 47,795.6 53,722.5 62,332.2 53,565.3 59,104.7 51,369.0 54,648.2 21.56 19.69 
Sorghum 509.7 595.9 690.3 595.3 572.1 630.0 598.9 0.24 0.22 
Triticale 5,252.2 6,396.4 6,855.8 7,521.8 6,915.6 7,431.5 6,728.9 2.66 2.42 
Total cereals 230,410.0 252,238.5 264,151.1 263,054.5 253,172.5 257,493.3 253,420.0 100.00 91.31 
          
Protein plants           
Peas 4,332.6 4,264.7 5,203.4 5,575.7 4,627.2 3,390.4 4,565.7 83.76 1.65 
Beans, broad, fields, beans 870.5 787.0 872.7 888.1 922.7 969.1 885.0 16.24 0.32 
Total protein plants 5,203.1 5,051.7 6,076.1 6,463.8 5,549.9 4,359.5 5,450.7 100.00 1.96 
          
Oilseeds          
Rape 10,080.0 8,075.6 10,018.4 11,427.3 13,815.7 11,003.1 10,736.7 57.55 3.87 
Sunflower seed 5,967.2 6,610.6 5,935.0 6,156.7 6,295.2 5,375.3 6,056.7 32.46 2.18 
Oil flax 301.5 393.5 390.8 431.1 787.7 299.9 434.1 2.33 0.16 
Soya bean 1,170.4 1,241.1 1,614.9 1,832.9 1,466.0 1,253.2 1,429.8 7.66 0.52 
Total oilseeds 17,519.1 16,320.8 17,959.1 19,848.0 22 ,364.6 17,931.5 18,657.2 100.00 6.72 
 
 
Table 2:  Notified expenditure, for which no product-specific data exists 
 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 Average 
Cereals 8,638.6 10,001.2 9,554.7 9,372.1 8,841.6 10,018.7 9,404.5 
Protein plants 522.7 525.0 617.8 647.2 524.3 449.6 547.8 
Oilseeds 2,381.0 2,439.4 2,368.6 2,263.7 1,318.0 1,984.3 2,125.8 
Set aside 2,112.1 1,827.8 1,251.3 1,272.3 1,848.0 1,527.1 1,639.8 
Total 13,654.4 14,793.4 13,792.4 13 ,555.3 12,531.9 13,979.7 13,717.9 
 
  
   TN/AG/S/25
 Page 3Table 3:  Elements for the calcul ation of product-specific BB limits 
Cereals Break down Set aside Pr oduct support Set-aside Total 
Wheat 49.99% 45.64% 4,700.9 748.4 5,449.3 
Rye 2.30% 2.10% 216.5 34.5 251.0 
Barley 19.74% 18.02% 1,856.1 295.5 2,151.6 
Oats 3.52% 3.21% 331.1 52.7 383.8 
Grain, maize 21.56% 19.69% 2,028.0 322.9 2,350.9 
Sorghum 0.24% 0.22% 22.2 3.5 25.8 
Triticale 2.66% 2.42% 249.7 39.8 289.5 
Total cereals 100.00% 91.31% 9,404.5 1, 497.3 10,901.8 
      
Protein plants      
Peas 83.76% 1.65% 458.8 27.0 485.8 
Beans, broad, fields, beans 16.24% 0.32% 88.9 5.2 94.2 
Total protein plants 100.00% 1.96% 547.8 32.2 580.0 
      
Oilseeds      
Rape 57.55% 3.87% 1,223.4 63.4 1,286.8 
Sunflower seed 32.46% 2.18% 690.1 35.8 725.9 
Oil flax 2.33% 0.16% 49.5 2.6 52.0 
Soya bean 7.66% 0.52% 162.9 8.4 171.4 
Total oilseeds 100.00% 6.72% 2,125.8 110.2 2,236.1 
 
 
Japan  
 
Table 4:  Product-specific Bl ue Box (¥ billion), 1995-2000 
 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 Average 
Rice 0.0 0.0 0.0 50.2 92.7 92.7 78.5 
 
 
Norway  
 
Table 5 :  Notified Blue Box payments, 1995-2000  
Blue Box measure 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 Average 
Acreage and Cultural Landscape Scheme 2,751 3,209 3,305 3,752 3,176 3,123 3,219 
Structural Income Support to Dairy Farmers 1,539 1,483 1,443 1,425 1,394 1,330 1,436 
Regional Deficiency Payment to Milk Production 450 432 434 433 450 428 438 
Regional Deficiency Payment to Meat Production 506 512 516 523 512 473 507 
Headage support 1,871 1,611 1,678 1,748 2,142 2,317 1,894 
Total 7,117 7,246 7,375 7,880 7,674 7,669 7,494  
  TN/AG/S/25 
Page 4  
 
Table 6:  Disaggregation of average Blue Box payments  
Product category Share  (%) Million NOK 
Wheat 2.0  152 
Barley 5.1  380 
Oats 2.9  214 
Rye and Oilseeds 0.3  27 
Goat milk 2.2  166 
Milk 49.9  3,739  
Beef and veal 18.4  1,377  
Pork 1.1  85 
Sheep 15.4  1,156  
Horses 1.2  87 
Potatoes 0.4  27 
Eggs and poultry 0.4  30 
Fruits, berries and vegetables 0.7  53 
Total 100 7,494   TN/AG/S/25 
 Page 5 
 
 
  Annex 1 
 
Technical Notes 
 
 
European Union (EC 15)  
 1. During the reference period for the establishment of the caps, the EU's Blue Box support in 
the COP sectors (Cereals, Oilseeds and Protein plan ts) was for the major part notified broken down in 
four categories as payments for cereals, oilseeds, protein plants and land in set aside.  This "arable 
aid" support payments were based on fixed area and yields and decide d in 1992 under Council 
Regulation 1765/1992. 
2. Paragraph 40 of Rev.4 is read as requiring product specific limits on a level that is not 
consistent with the level of detail used in the EU 's notifications for the period 1995-2000.  Since the 
desired level of detail is not available in the EU's  financial accounts, the EU has to revert to an 
alternative breakdown key for the calculation of Blue  Box limits.  Therefore, per cereal, oilseed etc, 
the average of the quantities produced
 during each of the years 1995-2000 (in 1000 t;  as extracted on 
12 November 2009 from the Eurostat database) is chosen as the basis for the calculation of the 
product specific caps for COP products. 
3. Table 1 gives the Eurostat production data for the reference period 1995-2000, table 2 gives 
the amounts notified for cereals, oilseeds, protein plants and set-aside during the period 1995-2000 for 
the "arable aid" scheme decided in 1992.  Table 3 gives the product specific breakdown that results 
from the Eurostat breakdown key (production) applied to the average 1995-2000 "arable aid" amounts notified. 
4. The breakdown for the COP payments was app lied within each of the three spending 
categories (1) cereals, (2) oilseeds and (3) protein plants.  The set aside payments are broken down 
according to the relative production weight "across th e board" for the three categories taken together. 
 
Norway
 
 Introduction 
 
1. This submission presents possible product-specific caps for blue box payments for Norway. 
2. The methodology for disaggregation of blue box payments is described below.  The 
methodology for each blue box measure is intended to reflect as closely as possible the effect of the 
measures.  Actual payment information is used wh ere available, supplemented by appropriate proxies 
where necessary. 
3. For blue box payments that are substantially unchanged from those utilized in the base period, 
Norway intends to follow the same methodology fo r disaggregation of blue box payments as that 
utilized in establishing the product-specific caps, a nd as further described below, in notifications to 
the Committee on Agriculture from the first year of the implementation of the Doha-round. 
Methodology 
 
4. Notified amounts for the five blue box measures described below are summarized in table 5.  
The proposed product-specific caps for blue box measures are summarized in table 6.  The following 
methodology was used in disaggregating th e measures down to a product-specific level: TN/AG/S/25 
Page 6  
 
  (a) Acreage and cultural landscape scheme: 
Using the annual Ministry of Agriculture’s "Proposition to the Parliament no.1" (Budget 
proposition), the total amount was first distributed  to the four relevant main posts – fruits, 
berries and vegetables; potatoes; fodder; a nd grains.  The latter two needed further 
disaggregation: 
(i) Fodder was disaggregated by first determining "total area per animal" by 
multiplying the number of animals in the relevant groups with an area factor (cattle:  1,31 ha;  sheep:  0,12 ha;  goats:  0,2 ha;  horses:  1,0 ha) per animal.  
Total area per animal was used to give  a percentage distribution between the 
relevant animal categories.  The payments for cattle were further split 
between milk and meat production by using production value. 
(ii) Grains were disaggregated according to  statistics of utilized area per crop 
from Statistics Norway (SSB). 
(b) Structural income support to Dairy Farmers 
Payments were disaggregated between cow a nd goat milk by using allocated budget amounts 
from the annual Agreement on Agriculture. 
(c) Regional deficiency payment to milk production 
Payments were disaggregated by using production figures from the annual Agreement on 
Agriculture. 
(d) Regional deficiency payment to meat production 
Payments were disaggregated using pr oduction figures from the annual Agreement on 
Agriculture.  Since beef and sheep are par tially aggregated in this source, further 
disaggregation was made according to relevant production volumes. 
(e) Headage  support  
Payments were disaggregated by using an imal numbers from the annual Agreement on 
Agriculture. 
 
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