Report from the Commission to the Council - Flowers - method of calculating Community producer and import prices
Date: 1998-11-06
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: common price policy, floriculture, import price, producer price, tariff preference

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN  COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 06.11.1998 
COM(1998) 635  final 

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REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL 

Flowers  - method  of calculating  Community  producer and import prices 

k l T O kï  IKOM  TIIK(  OM MISSION  TO TIIK('0|IN<  II, 

Flowers - method  of calculating  Community  producer  and  import  prices 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

Council  Regulation  (EEC)  No  4088/87  of  21  December  1987  fixing  conditions  for 
the  application  of  preferential  customs  duties  on 
flowers 
originating  in  Cyprus,  Israel,  Jordan,  Morocco,  the  West  Bank  and  the  Gaza  Strip1, 
as  last  amended  by  Regulation  (EC)  No  1300/972  of  30  June  1997,  provides  for 
preferential  customs  duties  to  be  granted  within  quota  limits  and,  for  certain  cut 
flowers  (roses  and  carnations),  only  if  the  import  price  is  at  least  85%  of  the 
Community  producer  price  for these products. 

imports  of  certain 

The main  change  introduced  in June  1997  by  Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  1300/97 
is  (he  use  of  weighted  averages  instead  of  arithmetical  averages  in  order  to  mirror 
reality  more  closely.  Article  2  states that  twelve  months  after  the  entry  into  force  of 
the  Regulation  the Commission  must  present  to the Council  an assessment  report  on 
the  implementation  of this new  system  for  determining  Community  producer  prices, 
possibly  accompanied  by proposals  for adjustments  to be made to it. 

Commission  Regulation  (EEC)  No  700/883 of  17 March  1988  has been  amended  by 
Regulation  (EC)  No  2062/974 of 21  October  1997 to  incorporate  these  changes,  and 
Member  States  have  been  notifying  the  new  prices  to  the  Commission  since  3 
November  1997. 

2.  BRIBE QUTllNE  OF THE  METHOD 

Since  the  introduction  of  the  new  system,  the  Member  States  have  notified  the  data 
required  under  (he  above  Regulations,  i.e.  the  weighted  producer  and  import  prices 
(indicating  the total  quantities  in each  case)  for  each  of the  four  groups of  flowers  in 
question  (bloom  carnations,  spray  carnations,  large-flowered  roses,  small-flowered 
roses).  This  data  is  notified  to  the  Commission  every  two  weeks,  in  national 
currency  per  100  pieces,  by  fax  or  by  IDES  electronic  transfer.  However  France 
does  not  notify  the  import  quantities  within  the  required  time,  which  means  that 
French  import prices have not been weighted; and these are not, therefore,  taken  into 
consideration  in  calculating  the  Community  average.  France  has  committed  itself  to 
setting  up a system  to rectify  this  problem. 

1  OJL  382, 31.12.1987, p. 22. 
2  OJL  177, 5.7.1997, p. 1. 
3  OJ L72,  18.3.1988, p. 16. 
4  OJ 1,289,22.10.1997, p. 1 

As  for  the  moment  prices  are  only  notified  for  flowers  imported  from  Israel  and 
Morocco,  each  Member  State  has  to  notify  12  figures  at  most  (4  producer  prices  + 
quantities, and  8 import prices + quantities). 

The Commission  converts  the  notified  prices  into  ECU  (using  the  valid  agricultural 
conversion  rate)  and  weights  them  to  obtain  Community  averages.  Community 
producer  prices  are  published  every  two  weeks  in  the  Official  Journal  of  the 
European  Communities  in  an  Annex  to  a  Commission  Regulation.  If  necessary, 
further  Regulations  are  adopted  to  suspend  or  reintroduce  preferential  customs 
duties  for  Israel  and/or  Morocco,  for each group of  flowers. 

Data  is collected  for  the  previous  fifteen  days  and  is  used  to  determine  the  customs 
duties  that  apply  for  the  following  two  weeks.  This  period  begins  on  a  Wednesday 
so that  the Commission  has time to finalise  the procedure. 

3.  ASSilSSMliN'l' »F  THlvMHTHOP 

Impact  of this method  on  producer prices and  on customs duties to be paid 

3.1. 

Producer prices (see enclosed  Tables  1 to 4) 

Although  the  graphs  showing  the  evolution  of  prices  in  1997/98  (weeks  45 
to 24) mirror the trends already observed  over the two previous years, for  the 
same  periods,  the  peaks  are  much  sharper.  This  is  because  the  old  method 
eliminated  the  extremes  -  40%  either  side  of  the  calculated  average  -  while 
the new  method  takes all values  into  account. 

3.2.  Application  of customs duties (see enclosed  Table  5) 

In  Israel,  the  situation  relating  to bloom  carnations  and  small-flowered  roses 
is  comparable  with  that  of  the  previous  year  for  the  same  period;  for  largc-
llowcrcd  roses  the  situation  is  comparable  with  that  of  2  years  ago,  and  for 
spray  carnations  it is mid-way  between  these two years. 

Morocco  benefits,  as  in  the  past,  from  preferential  customs  duties  for  the 
entire  quota  period  except  for  two  two-week  periods  for  bloom  carnations. 
These results are therefore  very similar to those obtained  by the old  method. 

4.  CONCLUSION 

The  results  obtained  by  the  new  method  as  regards  the  suspension  of  preferential 
customs  duties  arc  fairly  similar  to those  obtained  by  the  old  method,  while  having 
the  advantage  of  mirroring  market  realities  more  closely,  since  producer  prices  arc 
calculated  on  the  basis  of  currenl  weighted  prices  rather  than  arithmetical  averages 
over a three-year  period  as  before. 

The  Commission  therefore  considers  that  it  is  not  necessary  for  the  time  being  to 
draft  proposals  to modify  the present  system  which  was introduced  in  late  1997. 

TABLE  1 

Reference 

ECU/100 

week No 

1995/96 

1996/97 

1997/98 

45-46 

47-48 

49-50 

51-52 

01-02 

03-04 

05-06 

07-08 

09-10 

11-12 

13-14 

15-16 

17-18 

19-20 

21-22 

23-24 

25-26 

27-28 

29-30 

31-32 

33-34 

35-35 

37-38 

39-40 

41-42 

43-44 

13,91 

12,23 

14,62 

16,37 

15,06 

13,20 

14,97 

15,83 

17,01 

11,74 

11,68 

16,09 

17,16 

14,36 

14,04 

13,96 

12,60 

12,17 

12,21 

15,39 

13,97 

13,83 

14,79 

13,42 

12,54 

11,87 

12,96 

13,07 

14,97 

11,24 

10,48 

10,46 

10,12 

8,30 

9,20 

9,80 

12,22 

13,56 

13,97 

14,33 

14,31 

19,40 

12,54 

12,92 

13,44 

16,90 

13,87 

13,55 

14,90 

14,25 

13,36 

12,56 

12,38 

12,27 

14,23 

13,37 

11,04 

10,29 

9,94 

8,52 

8,42 

9,62 

11,91 

13,10 

14,47 

14,45 

14,23 

19,11 

TABLE  2 

Reference 

ECU/100 

Week No 

1995/96 

1996/97 

1997/98 

11,27 

9,19 

9,87 

11,74 

11,15 

11,68 

11,86 

11,94 

11,18 

10,37 

10,23 

10,72 

14,23 

8,40 

7,27 

10,56 

45-46 

47-48 

49-50 

51-52 

01-02 

03-04 

05-06 

07-08 

09-10 

11-12 

13-14 

15-16 

17-18 

19-20 

21-22 

23 - 24 

25-26 

27-28 

29-30 

31-32 

33-34 

35-36 

37-38 

39-40 

41-42 

43-44 

10,83 

11,39 

9.82 

9,16 

8,87 

9.61 

10,84 

11,55 

11,65 

9,84 

11,02 

9,92 

9,74 

12,85 

9,55 

9,46 

10,37 

10,60 

10,16 

8,92 

7,77 

9,09 

11,69 

12,24 

12,73 

12,72 

13,55 

10,03 

10,40 

9,94 

10,09 

10,36 

11,94 

11,49 

10,61 

11,18 

9,97 

9,38 

12,06 

10,60 

11,37 

9,96 

10,00 

9,95 

9,02 

8,05 

9,27 

11,38 

12,21 

11,93 

12,17 

13,04 

TABLE  3 

Reference 

ECU/100 

Week No 

1995/96 

1996/97 

1997/98 

45-46 

47-48 

49-50 

51-52 

01-02 

03-04 

05-06 

07 - 08 

09-10 

11-12 

13-14 

15-16 

17-18 

19-20 

21-22 

23-24 

25-26 

27-28 

29-30 

31-32 

33-34 

35-36 

37-38 

39-40 

41-42 

43-44 

36,84 

42,81 

44,15 

56,02 

46,23 

47,65 

65,00 

71,64 

58,27 

41,90 

27,37 

29,46 

33,31 

31,78 

29,37 

31,83 

28,01 

27,94 

34,31 

42,10 

42,26 

49,39 

57,76 

55,25 

49,57 

38,14 

29,52 

27,52 

29,34 

25,99 

27,29 

25,67 

21,19 

20,24 

20,30 

19,25 

20,69 

25,17 

26,14 

25,00 

26,68 

32,17 

30,19 

31,92 

36,28 

48,40 

43,35 

52,21 

61,54 

63,70 

53,28 

49,54 

36,02 

31,31 

32,85 

32,29 

30,66 

26,38 

24,57 

21,99 

21,01 

20,79 

22,31 

26,35 

27,53 

26,53 

27,98 

33,70 

TABLE  4 

Reference 

ECU/100 

week No 

1995/96 

1996/97 

1997/98 

14,62 

16,28 

16,95 

21,03 

20,84 

21,90 

26,85 

27,60 

20,15 

15,12 

14,27 

15,79 

16,37 

15,18 

15,11 

14,30 

45-46 

47-48 

49-50 

51-52 

01-02 

03-04 

05-06 

07-08 

09-10 

11-12 

13-14 

15-16 

17-18 

19-20 

21-22 

23 - 24 

25-26 

27-28 

29-30 

31-32 

33-34 

35-36 

37-38 

39-40 

41-42 

43-44 

16,11 

17,00 

17,56 

22,69 

20,32 

21,49 

27,07 

29,93 

26,76 

21,33 

19,12 

17,90 

18,29 

16,31 

16,55 

12,66 

11,64 

9,90 

9,35 

9,02 

10,33 

12,56 

12,06 

12,70 

14,80 

18,41 

17,31 

16,97 

18,45 

25,16 

21,67 

19,36 

23,07 

30,37 

25,28 

22,37 

20,06 

16,73 

17,40 

19,80 

18,44 

13,97 

12,9 

11,23 

10,93 

13,17 

12,7 

14,34 

14,13 

13,78 

15,06 

19,19 

TABLE  5 

ISRAEL 
bloom carnations  spray carnations 

large-flowered 
roses 
1997/98  (current method) 

small-flowered 
roses 

MOROCCO 
bloom carnations  spray carnations 

large-flowered 
roses 
1997/98  (current method) 

small-flowered 
roses 

full (quota exhausted) 

pref. autom. 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
full 
preferential 
preferential 
full 
full 
full 
full 

pref. autom. 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
full 
preferential 
preferential 
full 

full 
full 
full 
full 
full 
full 
full 
full 
full 
full 
full 
full 
full 

preferential 
preferential 
full 
full 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
full: 28 days (quota period 
closed on 31/5/98) 

preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 

full 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
full 
full 
full 
full 
preferential 
full 
full 

preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 

preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
full: 42 days (quota period 
closed on 14/5/98) 

No of 
weeks 

47-48 
49-50 
51  -52 
1-2 
3-4 
5-6 
7-8 
9-10 
11-12 
13-14 
15-16 
17-18 
19-20 
21-22 
23-24 
25-26 

from 19 Nov.'97 

•K 

to 30 June 1998 

Tot.= 224 days 

19/11/97-30/06/98 
(tot.: 224 days) 

preferential 
full 

18/11/96-29/06/97 

(tot.: 224 days) 

preferential 
full 

19/11/95-30/6/96 
(tot.: 225 days) 

preferential 
full 

(1996: 29 days in February) 

112 
112 

110 
114 

91 
134 

154 
70 

126 
98 

184 
41 

0 
224 

65 
159 

6 
219 

84 
140 

78 
146 

131 
94 

168 
28 + 28* = 56 

175 
19+ 28* = 49 

182 
15+ 28* = 43 

196 
*28 

196 
*28 

196 
*28 

182 
*42 

182 
*42 

173 
10+ 42* = 52 

182 
*42 

182 
*42 

182 
*42 

* "Full" because quota period closed 

ISSN 0254-1475 

COM(98) 635 final 

DOCUMENTS 

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03  10  17  02 

Catalogue  number  :  CB-CO-98-621-EN-C 

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