EU effort to reduce imports of rice with banned fungicide from Asia

Greece has decided to support the effort of a group of EU countries (Italy, Spain and France) to stop favorable imports of Asian rice containing the active substance tricyclazole. The use of tricyclazole has been banned in the EU since 2016 but is widely used by Southeast Asian countries that export rice to Europe. Also in December 2023, the European Parliament decided to reject the Commission's proposal to increase the tricyclazole limit (from 0.01 to 0.09 mg/kg) in rice imports from certain Asian and South American countries. This decision is important for maintaining the competitiveness of European rice producers and ensuring food safety for consumers. According to AgroTypos data, rice imports from India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia exceeded 149,000 tonnes in Italy in the first nine months of 2023 alone. At the initiative of the Minister of Agricultural Development and Food Lefteris Avgenakis and in the context of his actions to strengthen the extroversion of the ...