2nd UPDATE: EU Offers To Cut Tariffs On Ethanol Imports

INO.com
7-25-08

BRUSSELS (Dow Jones)--The European Union is offering to cut its tariffs on ethanol imports as part of talks at the World Trade Organization, a plan that would subject the E.U.'s nascent ethanol industry to more competition from low-cost Brazilian imports.

The proposal made this week would cut tariffs on 1.4 million metric tons of ethanol imports annually by 2020, worth $1 billion each year, E.U. officials said Friday. Without tariffs, much of the E.U.'s ethanol industry can't compete with Brazilian ethanol, which is made from sugar, one of the cheapest production methods.

E.U. producers tend to rely on cereals, which is much less efficient.

European ethanol producers opposed the concession.

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