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.