Well well well... just when you think you've seen it all

[kato]

From the Manitoba Co-operator

EU vote ends scrap with Canada, U.S. on hormones in beef
Mar 14, 2012 3:45 PM - 0 comments
T
By: Gilbert Reilhac
Strasbourg | Reuters
Livestock, Markets

The European Parliament on Wednesday approved a deal between the European Union and both Canada and the U.S. on hormone-treated beef, ending one of the trading powers' oldest disputes.

The case dates back to 1988 when the EU banned all imports of beef from cattle treated with growth hormones, a move that prompted U.S. and Canadian sanctions of $125 million a year on European products from Roquefort cheese to truffles and mustard.

The EU and Washington had agreed in 2009 that the 27-member bloc would keep its ban on hormone-treated beef but that the U.S. would gradually lift its sanctions in exchange for a steep rise in the EU's duty-free import quotas of hormone-free beef.

The volumes of hormone-free beef exempted from taxes were put at 20,000 tonnes that year and are due to be lifted to 48,200 tonnes by August 2012, of which 45,000 tonnes for U.S. beef and 3,200 tonnes for Canadian imports.

The U.S. lifted its import duties on all targeted European luxury foods in May last year.

Although EU farmers had feared a surge in imports of North American beef, these failed to materialize as the U.S. became a net importer of beef after grain that formerly went to animal feed was used to make biofuels.

The EU has insisted its ban on hormone-treated beef, which is largely approved by EU consumers, rests on scientific evidence of health risks, though the U.S. and Canada reject such evidence.

The main beneficiaries of the lifting of the U.S. sanctions are expected to be Italy, Poland, Greece, Ireland, Germany, Denmark, France and Spain, the EU Parliament said in a statement.

The Council of Ministers still needs to rubber-stamp the decision but it already gave its informal approval, the Parliament said.

Speaking to lawmakers before the vote, EU farm chief Dacian Ciolos said he hoped the deal would lead to a definitive resolution of the hormone-treated beef dispute at the World Trade Organization.

Ciolos also noted the publication last week of draft rules by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to lift the ban on all EU beef imports, imposed in 1997 in the wake of the BSE crisis. He said he hoped the rules would be finalized "in a timely manner."

-- Additional reporting for Reuters by Charlie Dunmore in Brussels

[grassfarmer]

So I think you could say the EU played that one
pretty well! Ban on hormone treated beef going into
the EU remains but they will allow in an increased
amount of hormone free beef, at a time when north
America has greatly reduced beef supply. In return
the US lifts the retaliatory sanctions placed on EU
goods. Fair enough outcome as the hormone
treated stuff was never going to be saleable in the
EU if it were labelled as such.

[rkaiser]

"The volumes of hormone-free beef exempted from taxes were put at 20,000 tonnes that year and are due to be lifted to 48,200 tonnes by August 2012, of which 45,000 tonnes for U.S. beef and 3,200 tonnes for Canadian imports."

And due to the fact that American companies own or influence the only potential beef for this trickle of tax exempt beef that could potentially come from Canada, guess who wil continue to drive the price of this quota up where Canada Beef or Prairie Heritage are challenges to compete. Especially now that the brothers Nil have their own "Natural Beef Program"...

[gaucho]

No worries Prairie Heritage is doing just fine.. just a clarification... Canada and the US do not own this quota it is what was allocated by country from the EU into a pool that anyone can deliver against provided that the cattle meet the criteria for the high grain fed period and federally employed graders. In the end it is the importers who will decide where they buy their product from and where they will allocate the quota... Australia and Uruguay can also deliver on this... provided the cattle have been on 100 days of high energy rations. We are at 2.5 containers per month now and will have it to a container per week by late summer... you need to educate the European buyer first about what Canadian Beef is all about and more importantly sell the Heritage Angus Brand. Slow steady is much better than trying to blow your brains out on natural beef like what Spring Creek and Nilsons is doing in Canada.... Like Randy's other post the Canadian consumer is not willing to pair the full and fair price that thsi beef needs to be sold at.