TAIPEI, March 17: Taiwan will keep its rice import tariff-quota system despite protests from exporting nations like the United States who say they are overly restrictive and don’t conform to international trade standards.

Instead of gradually opening its market to tariff-free imports, Taiwan unilaterally slapped a more than 450 per cent tariff on rice imports in excess of the annual 144,720-tonne tariff-free quota, virtually ruling out any additional imports.

Taiwan insists the tariff allows an unlimited amount of rice imports, and will not be changed even as Australia, Thailand and the United States — Taiwan’s main suppliers of imported rice — refuse to accept the change.

"The same amount of (tariff-free) rice imports will be maintained this year as in 2002 and that won’t change until this round of WTO negotiations reaches some agreement," said Tsao Shao-hwei, deputy director of the Council of Agriculture’s Food, Transport and Distribution Division.

Taiwan allows tariff-free imports of 144,720 tonnes of rice annually, or about eight per cent of the island’s needs. Senior WTO officials say this round of talks — known as the Doha round — won’t be completed until mid-2007.

Foreign trade officials took exception to the tariff. "Taiwan claims the out-of-quota tariff rate liberalises the market, (but) if you look at world market prices you can see it’s about 450 per cent protection," said a Taipei-based foreign trade official involved in the negotiations.

Taiwan, where rice is a staple, considers self-sufficiency in rice production of national importance and only opened its market to imports in January 2002 when it entered the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

"The adjustment was to prevent the in-quota amount from increasing. But if you pay the tariff you can import any time and any amount, which is in line with WTO regulations," said Tsao, who has just returned from the United States for the latest round of negotiations.

A spokesman for Australian trade minister Mark Vaile said by phone: "This is clearly excessive and one of the highest tariffs in the world.we are yet to agree on this matter despite two rounds of consultations in Geneva." Foreign trade officials declined to comment on what their government’s next step may be in the row.

But Tsao says that the out-of-quota tariff isn’t steep when compared to the over 1,000 percent level in Japan.

The News International, Pakistan