WTO Agriculture Committee Reviews Policies under New
Chair
At a meeting of the WTO Committee on Agriculture on 24-25 September, WTO
members addressed matters raised regarding implementation of their commitments and
members' specific notifications. They also discussed a counter-notification submitted
by Australia on India's support policies for sugar and heard a briefing on the global
state of farming from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). This was the
first meeting under the new Chair, Mr William Horgan of Ireland.
Meeting
Context
·
First meeting chaired by William Horgan (Ireland).
·
Members reviewed notifications, implementation
issues, and Australia’s counter-notification on India’s sugar policies.
·
FAO presented global farming and food security
trends.
Peer
Review Process
·
220
questions raised on notifications and policy matters.
·
55
questions on 48 specific implementation matters
(SIMs), including 21 new items.
·
Topics: US beef imports & FARM programme, Philippines’ swine repopulation, Paraguay’s farm
credit & insurance, Indonesia’s halal inspections, Panama’s dairy quotas, EU’s
Food & Feed Safety Omnibus.
·
Chair emphasized timely, complete notifications
and replies for transparency.
Export
Competition
·
Annual discussions held under the 2015 Nairobi Decision.
·
First exercise using streamlined single export competition notification
(effective 2025).
·
Chair urged members to submit notifications
promptly.
India’s
Sugarcane MPS Dispute
·
Australia’s counter-notification (third since
2018) claimed India exceeded its 10% de minimis limit
for sugar for 11+ years.
·
India rejected claims, arguing sugarcane is
purchased by private
mills, not government.
·
India does not accept WTO panel findings and
has appealed.
FAO
Global Briefing
·
Conflict remains main driver of acute food insecurity.
·
Other pressures: economic stress, climate
variability, El Niño, logistics disruptions.
·
Global food import bill hit USD 2 trillion in 2025,
rising sharply for LDCs, net food-importing developing countries, and sub-Saharan
Africa.
WTO
Secretariat Updates
·
Preparing documentation on tariff rate quotas (TRQs),
including applied tariffs.
·
Announced release of digitized historical files
from early agriculture negotiations.
Next
Steps
·
Next Committee meeting scheduled for 24–26 November 2026.
[ABS News Service/29.09.2026]
A total of 220 questions were
raised by members concerning individual notifications as well as broader agricultural
policy developments or specific implementation matters (SIMs). This peer review
process allows members to address issues related to the implementation of commitments
under the Agreement on Agriculture.
For the meeting, 55 questions
on 48 SIMs were raised for review. Among these were 21 new items, primarily covering
domestic support programmes as well as tariff and other non-tariff and regulatory
measures affecting agricultural market access in several members, including Argentina,
Canada, the European Union Indonesia, Panama, Paraguay, Thailand, the Philippines
and the United States.
Questions covered new topics
including US beef imports and the US Financial Assurance to Revitalize Markets (FARM)
programme; the Philippines' swine repopulation programme; Paraguay's farm credit
support and climatic insurance programmes; Indonesia's pre-shipment inspections
for halal products; Panama's milk and dairy import quotas; and the EU's Food and
Feed Safety Omnibus, among others.
The Chair welcomed that many
members had provided written responses to the many questions in advance of the meeting
using the Committee's digital platform, which allowed for deeper exchanges during
the meeting. He also invited members to respond to the questions verbally from the
floor, including those already addressed via the digital platform, leading to substantive
replies and rebuttals on many of the issues.
The Chair also urged delegations
to submit timely and complete notifications, stressing the critical importance of
enhanced transparency as requested by members. In the same vein, the Chair urged
members to submit timely replies to the questions they receive in the Committee,
noting that several remained outstanding.
All questions submitted for the
meeting are available in G/AG/W/261. All questions and replies received are available
in the WTO's Agriculture Information Management System.
Members held their annual dedicated
discussions on export competition, as mandated by the 2015 Nairobi Decision on Export
Competition. This was the first such exercise following the Committee's decision
in late 2024 to streamline and consolidate the transparency and notification requirements
for export competition into a single export competition notification, applicable
from 2025 and now serving as the key agreed basis for transparency and members'
deliberations under this pillar.
The Chair urged all members to
make every effort to submit their notifications in a timely and complete
manner.
The Committee considered a counter-notification
(G/AG/W/262) by Australia concerning India's market price support (MPS) for sugarcane.
This was the third counter-notification addressing India's MPS for sugar, stretching
back to 2018.
Australia noted that India remains
the world's second-largest sugar producer, accounting for approximately 18% of global
sugar production between 2021 and 2025. Australia claimed that India's system of
market price support has helped it maintain its position as a key global player
in sugar production and trade. Relying on the approach and methodology of the WTO
panel in the dispute case "India - measures concerning sugar and sugarcane",
Australia calculated and consolidated MPS data for the period 2018-19 to 2024-25.
It noted that India had substantially exceeded its 10% product-specific de minimis
entitlement for sugar for at least the last 11 years.
India responded
that similar communications had been submitted by Australia in November 2018 and
that the same issues had been raised by Australia and the United States in May 2024.
India reiterated its stance that the premises underlying the prior counter-notifications
were incorrect, as sugarcane in India is purchased by private sugar mills, and not
by the government or state agencies. India noted that it did not accept the panel's
findings in the sugar dispute and had appealed them in 2021. It therefore did not
consider those findings to be an appropriate basis for a counter-notification.
The FAO reported to the Committee
on developments in agricultural markets and global food security. It noted that
conflict remains the primary driver of acute food insecurity, while global economic
stress, weather extremes, and increasing climate variability, including El Niño
conditions, continue to compound vulnerabilities and deepen acute food insecurity
globally.
The global food import bill reached
a new high of more than USD 2 trillion in 2025, rising by almost 5% for least developed
countries (LDCs), more than 6% for net food-importing developing countries, and
more than 7% for sub-Saharan Africa. Weather-related shocks, exchange-rate movements,
and uncertainties associated with shipping and logistical disruptions may add further
pressure, the FAO added.
The WTO Secretariat presented
members with updates on the preparation of its detailed background documentation
on members' notifications and notification practices related to tariff rate quotas
(TRQs), which, for this year, would additionally include information on applied
tariffs for imports within and outside of quotas. It also informed members about
the imminent release and upload of historical files on WTO Documents Online from
the early years of WTO agriculture negotiations and pre-negotiations, which had
not previously been available in digitized formats.
The next regular meeting of the
Committee on Agriculture will be held on 24-26 November.