January 8, 2008

Brazilian team wants EU to justify beef restrictions

Brazil is sending a team to fight EU efforts to place new restrictions on Brazilian beef imports.

The restrictions were scheduled to take effect Jan. 31.

The Brazilian delegation would be meeting the European Commission on Jan. 14 to ask for technical information on which it based its restrictions.

Antenor Nogueira, president of Permanent Forum of Livestock Cutting, a division of the Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock of Brazil (CAN) said Brazil would file a formal complaint with the WTO if the EC fails to find a technical claim,

Nogueira also charged that the restrictions were the direct result of lobbying from UK and Irish farming establishments designed to keep Brazilian beef out of the EU so they can profit from it themselves.

The EU is expected to import 800,000 tonnes of beef in 2008, Nogueira said.

If Brazilian beef is kept out of the EU, prices would skyrocket, hurting EU consumers more, he said.

Even in Brazil, EU-ready beef is already increasingly hard to come by due to insufficient rains which meant lesser grass for feed.

There may even arise the situation in which EU buyers may have to compete with domestic processors for Brazilian beef, analysts said.