EC TO ABOLISH TAX ON SPANISH MAIZE EXPORTS The European Community Commission has decided to abolish a special tax of eight Ecus per tonne imposed on exports of Spanish maize, Commission sources said. They said the tax, which applies to Spanish sales to EC and non-EC countries alike, would no longer be required on exports from Spanish ports south of Valencia. The decision was taken at a meeting of the authority's cereals management committee today. The tax had been introduced last September at the same time as a subsidy of eight Ecus per tonne was brought in for exports of maize to Spain from other EC member countries. The aim of the tax was to prevent the maize imported into Spain from the other EC states with the help of subsidies from being reexported back to them. The sources added that Spain had received no answer from the committee to its request that tenders be opened for the sale to third countries of 450,000 tonnes of maize. The request will be considered at the committee's next meeting, the commission sources said. Madrid estimates that it needs to import 1.7 mln tonnes of maize this year, while an EC-U.S. accord guarantees non-EC producer sales to Spain of two mln tonnes of maize and 300,000 tonnes of sorghum annually for the next four years.