The European Union’s suspension of import duties on cereals will not have a significant impact on prices, because most of the imported wheat used in flour is of high quality and duty is already set at zero, Alex Waugh, director general of the National Association of British and Irish Millers told British Baker last week.

The EU has suspended duties until June 30, 2008, on all cereals except oats, buckwheat and millet in what it called "a reaction to the exceptionally tight situation on the world and EU cereal markets and the record price levels". However, Waugh explained that duty on high-quality wheat had been set at zero for the last two years, because the current world price is higher than the "notional" EU price.