EC OILS TAX NO LONGER MAJOR ISSUE - ASSOCIATION

  The proposed European Community (EC) tax
  on vegetable oils and fats is no longer a major issue on the
  agenda and the EC Commission merely used it as a threat, the
  West German Feed Stuffs Industry Association (MFI) said.
      Association chairman Ulrich Wagner told a news conference
  the West German feed industry believes the EC does not
  seriously contemplate the introduction of such a tax because it
  would end in another transatlantic trade war.
      "We have just avoided a trade conflict with the U.S. And the
  Commission used the tax threat to calm national farm lobbies."
      American Soybean Association (ASA) president-elect Wayne
  Bennett said yesterday in The Hague that U.S. Soybean producers
  were confident the tax would be rejected.
      Bennett, who is leading one of three soybean delegations on
  a lobbying tour of EC capitals, will also visit Bonn on
  Thursday and Friday.
      There are indications the Bonn government will also reject
  the proposed tax, Wagner said.
  

