GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TARIFFS AND TRADE RISTRICTED L/1014/Add.12/Rev.1 3November1960 Limited Distribution STATE-TRADING ENTERPRISES Notifications Pursuant to Article XVII:7(a) in Reply to the Questionnaire Contained in Document L/1014 of 3 July 1959 BELGIUM Original: French I. Enumeration of State-trading, enterprises In consideration of the difficulties resulting from the war in the economic and financial fields, a State organization, called"office the Commercial du Ravitaillement, was set up - by Decree-Law of 25 January 1945 - to solve problems connected With the population's food supplies which had arisen at the time. That Office had the task of purchasing or causing to be purchased, under the control of the Government and in accordance with its directives, both in Belgium and abroad, the foodstuffs necessary to keep the population supplied, and of arranging for their sale to. approved distributors. When it appeared, in 1949, that the necessary conditions for a return to a market economy existed, arrangements were made for winding-up the Office (under a Regent's Order of 30 May 1949). Anxious about political developments throughout the world, however, the Government felt it could not completely abolish the Office and the means the latter provided of immediately assuring imports of food applies should the international situation so require. Furthermore, it was necessary that the Office should be able to continue to intervene to ensure the stock-piling of certain essential food supplies. That is why the Order for liquidation provided that insofar as necessary the Office would, during the winding-up process, continue to conduct the commercial operations entrusted to it by the Decree-Law of 1945. After 1949, the activities of the Office in import and expert trade were no longer more than occasional. ¹Alphabetical list of the notifications received from governments see Appendix to this document.
L/1014/Add.12/Rev.1 Page 2 Whereas in the post-war period those activities were mainly concerned with imports, they now also extend to the home market, Products which are imported or exported as a result of action by the "Office du Ravitaillement" are: 1, Meat 2. Butter 3. Wheat There are no other State-trading enterprises. II. Reason for and purpose of the establishment and maintenance of the Statetrading enterprises 1. Meat The Office is responsible for purchasing beef and pork for consumption by the army This is one of the exceptions mentioned in Article XVII, (2). Such purchases are effected on the national market by public tender. If the position on the home market does not allow the necessary quantities to be obtained for supplying the army, the Office invites tenders from Belgian firms which specialize in the meat importing trade. The adjudication of such -tenders by the Office is based solely on commercial criteria (quality and price). 2. Butter As Butter from countries outside Benelux is imported, when necessary, by the Office, which allocates it to private importers for sale on the home market, 3, Wheat The purpose of intervention by the Office is to ensure that consumer prices do not exceed certain limits, B. In 1958, in view of existing butter surpluses on the Belgian market, the Office was instructed to intervene to make export possible by the granting of a premium from the Agricultural Fund. In August and September 1959, the Belgian exporters concluded contracts for the export of native wheat subject to financial intervention by the Office acting on behalf of the Agricultural Fund,
The L/1014/Add.12/Rev.1 Page 3 heat requirements of the Belgian flour-milling industry are of the order of one million tons a year. The Belgian crops only produce soft wheat. In order to be able to make flour to the taste of the Belgian consumer, the millers have to be able to use a percentage of hard wheat which they are thus obliged to import. As. the quantities of Belgian wheat placed on the market in 1959 were greater than the quota of soft wheat Which the flour-milling industry can normally use, it'became necessary to. export the surplus to avoid a collapse of the rates for native wheat. In order to be able to export, Belgium found itself obliged to align its prices with those applied in the export trade by neighboring countries, hence the need for financial intervention, The Office had to get tenders from the exporters and take the most advantageous; it also had to end the financial intervention as soon as the exporter produced evidence that the produce had been exported, Some 60,000 tons of wheat were thus exported with financial assistance III. Description of the functions of the State-tradings enterprises The answers to the questions in point III of the Questionnaire are contained in the explanations furnished under II above. It seems, however, advisable to make it clear that the Office does not negotiate long-term contracts, and that recourse is not had to it in respect of such State-trading transactions as may be decided on for the purpose of fulfillng contractual obligations assumed by the Government. For the sake of clarity it appears desirable to give a brief description below of the way in which the Office operates in respect of each of the products mentioned under II above, bearing in mind those aspects regarding which the Special Group appears to show particular concern in the questions in point III, 1, Meat for thearmy's requirements The meat purchased by the Office being intended for the army, it does not therefore have to consider its exportation. Purchases are made through private firms by public tender, The volume of purchases is determined by the army's requirements. The Office makes its choice on the basis of quality and price, 2. Butter The butter which the Office imports is for home consump?lion and is therefore not re-exported. The price at which the Office sells the butter on the Belgian market is related to the price of Belgian-produced butter.
L/1014/Add.12/Rev.1 Page 4 3. Wheat In 1959, as an exeption, the Office assisted in the export of native. wheat It does not, in existing world conditions, import wheat, Action by the Office has been confined to granting, on behalf of the Agricultural Fund, financial assistance to private exporters. The volume of exports has been determined by the size of the native wheat crop surplus. Note: IV. Private traders are also authorized to export without financial.intervention. On the production of customs documents certifying that exportation has taken place they are given a document called a "substitution bond" which entitles the miller who holds it to replace an equal quantity of native wheat by imported wheat in his mixture of wheat milled for the production of legal flour, These substitution bonds are negotiable. Statistical information The attached tables give the following information for the three products mentioned above for the years 1957; 1958 and 1959: the import and export figures for the Kingdom; the import and export operations of the Office in the three years under review; the national production figures. V, The reason why no trade trade has taken Place in products effeeted VI. Not applicable. Additional information None.
ph.4 metric " 1. BEEF IMPORTS YUR Kingdom OCRA metric tons metric tons Belg.frs. metric tons Belg. frs. : tons. 19571 10,744 292,928,000 1,794 40,721,917 648 25,797,000 1958 7,467 229,400,000 2,897 68,775,386 8,330 228,400,000 1959 5,534 200,602,000 1,486 39,758,421 6,596 196,968,000: 57 1951,-199 3.WHEAT IMPORTS _ metritons Belg. frs. Kingdom.. YER metric tons Belg. frs. tons - Belg. frs..~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1957' 367,107 1,291,000,000 1, 421 4,519,000 958 465,724 1,542,000,000 71,471 204,000,000 1_ 9 437,770 1,456,000,000 133,000 376,000,000 60,775.134,801,050. NationalProdution (all types of meat) (estimates) metric. 390,000 412,000 424,000. BeIg. frs. 11,700,000,000 12,350,000,000 12,700,000,000 6,066 447 720,000 454 30, 220, 300 190000 7,000,000,000 86 6,739,000 _ 4,826 119,368,000 " 7,000,000,000 3,747 256,000,000 253 20,062,609 44 1,800,000 " 7,000,000,000 X --.,- ------4.---------I -----4 National Production... (estimates) metric tons Belg.frs. 275 OCO 3. 000 ; 3,500,000,000 3,700,000,000 3,900,000,000
L/1014/Add.12/Rev.l Page 6 APPENDIX Notifiqations Received from governments and in Addenda todocument L/1014- Reproduced Australia Austria Belgium Briazil, Cambodia Czechosloviaak Denmark Finland r,any,f Fed. Rep. of dia... 0 Israel Add. 9 " 14 I 12/Rev. 1.P- " 7 t18 i " 15 " 8 I2. l4 Japan ': ":::e 0.0 Luxembur... Malaya, Federation o. NehZealand NoZl n... Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Federation of... Sweden Turkey... Union of South Africa United Kingdom... United States... Add '' 23. n10 n22 i 3 17 1 i n' i. 4 6 19 1 13 20 ~~~~~~~~~~~