(Adds farm minister quote, detail on grain exports, background)
PARIS, April 11 (Reuters) - France will ensure that a
decision by health and safety agency ANSES to ban the use of a
pesticide in direct contact with grains does not hamper its
exports outside the European Union, its trade and agriculture
ministers told Parliament on Tuesday.
In late October ANSES cleared the use of phosphine tablets
used for killing pests though fumigation, but said they could
not be "in direct contact with cereals", thereby threatening
exports to markets that require the process, including Algeria,
Egypt and Morocco.
"There is nothing to worry about for exports, these will
continue. It's good for our exporters, it's good for food
security of these (importing) countries," Trade Minister Olivier
Becht said, adding that steps would be taken by April 25 when
the ANSES decision takes effect.
France intends to refer to an EU regulation that says that
maximum residue limits for pesticides do not apply to non-EU
country exports if it is possible to demonstrate that the
treatments are required or accepted, Becht said.
France will act at the request of importing countries that
require the molecule, Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau told
Parliament.
He said that EU countries including Germany and Bulgaria
were also using the pesticide on grain exports to Algeria.
If inhaled in large doses, phosphine can cause respiratory,
neurological and gastrointestinal disorders.
The questions in Parliament followed a weekend report by
l'Opinion newspaper that said French grain exports would come to
a halt from April 25.
With the deadline looming, French grain producers had called
for a swift response from the government.
"We are depriving ourselves of a quarter of the outlets for
French cereals," Eric Thirouin, head of French grain growers
group AGPB, told Reuters.
Russia, the world's largest wheat exporter, will be the main
beneficiary if the ban is confirmed, Thirouin added.
Exports put at risk by the ANSES decision amount to about 4
billion euros ($4.37 billion) in trade surplus, compared with a
total grain trade surplus of about 11 billion euros last year,
he said.
($1 = 0.9159 euros)
(Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide and Gus Trompiz
Editing by David Goodman)
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