By RACHEL LANE

D.C. Correspondent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — From dairy to wheat, nations around the world faced tough questions from delegates at the June 11-12 World Trade Organization (WTO) Committee on Agriculture.

On May 4, the United States filed counter-notifications against India for wheat and rice reporting. The U.S. calculated that India had changed its method of reporting and was providing too much support for its farmers of these specific crops.

While India had time to prepare answers for questions raised, the minutes from the meeting indicated the questions presented have remained unanswered.

Ben Conner, vice president of Policy for U.S. Wheat Associates, Inc. said, from what he’s heard, India refused to change the current price supporting method, but specifics from the meeting have not been released yet. The U.S. delegation called out India for trade-distorting policies, such as increasing support prices, increasing tariff rates, import restrictions, lifting an export ban and export subsidies.

According to the minutes from the meeting, the Australia delegation noted that as of May 21, India had already exceeded the target of 32 million tons of wheat the government of India set for the 2018/19 market season.

“Given wheat stocks are now well above required operational needs … how does India intend to dispose of the excess stocks of wheat?” the delegation asked. Australia also asked India about the increase in wheat tariffs from 20 to 30 percent.

The Russian delegation noted that India increased tariffs on yellow peas up to 50 percent and, effective April 25, restricted imports of the pea. According to the minutes, India did not change its method of calculating market price supports.

New Zealand, Australia and U.S. delegations then questioned the Canadian delegates about milk components. During the previous meeting, New Zealand and the U.S. asked Canada to provide monthly volumes of milk components for which processors are paying Class 7 prices.

During the meeting on June 11, the New Zealand delegation said the answer provided by Canada was not satisfactory and the delegation asked again that Canadian delegates provide the information.

“New Zealand remains very concerned at the apparent lack of transparency in Canada’s implementation of its new national ingredients strategy, particularly in light of the significant trade impact of Class 7,” the minutes read.

WTO cases against China remain ongoing, with nothing expected to be settled before 2019. One case regards domestic support of corn, wheat and barley.

The support provided by the government to the Chinese farmers has been seen to cause market distortion – more farmers are planting the crops because they are considered more valuable than they would be without the supports. As a result, more corn, barley and wheat is available from China, said Tom Sleight, U.S. Grains Council president and CEO.

The cases have been presented and the initial report on findings may be released in a few weeks, Sleight said, but the report will likely be appealed. “It’s a long-standing issue with China … internal prices of corn, wheat and rice has been high above the international price,” he explained.

Domestic corn prices in China were three times higher than global prices. There has been some reform to the corn prices, bringing domestic prices closer to global prices, but it is still too high, Sleight added.

If the market operated as expected according to global prices, there would be more need to import corn into China and U.S. farmers would be able to get into the market. It is difficult to determine exactly how much U.S. corn farmers might benefit because there are other restrictions on U.S. corn, like lack of acceptance of biotechnology in China, he said.

The second case against China is in regards to the tariff rate quota – how much of a product can be imported before a tariff is added.

Conner said he thinks nothing will happen regarding India until after the cases against China are settled.