Addressing a meeting of Italian beef producers on June 27th 2008 Commissioner Fischer Boel noted that if the Doha Round was successfully concluded and the EU agrees to tariff cuts in the beef sector then ‘this will certainly mean some extra beef imports’. However, the EC was seeking to have beef treated as a ‘sensitive product’. Currently imports make up only 7% of the EU beef market.
Commissioner Fischer Boel noted the gradual approach to decoupling being adopted in the beef sector, so as to provide time for farmers to adjust. She reflected that while the impact of the ending of the dairy-quota system on the beef sector was unknown it would mean ‘one les constraint on beef production’. She highlighted the potential importance to the beef sector of the EC’s planned ‘green paper’ on agricultural-quality policy, which could assist the beef sector in realising the commercial value of quality beef production, not only through the use of geographical indicators but also various labelling schemes and marketing standards.
Speech by the Agriculture Commissioner, /08/362, June 27th 2008
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/08/362&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
The EC’s ‘green paper’ on agricultural quality policy is likely to formalise the EC’s approach to promoting a movement by EU producers towards serving luxury-purchase components of the EU market, including in the beef sector where the competitive threat from Brazil and Argentina on undifferentiated markets is seen as being overwhelming. This in many respects will define the challenges facing ACP beef exporters, who will need to be pay close attention to the development of the EC’s quality policy as it affects the beef sector..