March 18, 2009
EU keeps beef hormone ban, but offers US larger beef quota
The European Commission will keep its beef hormone beef, but will offer to double beef imports quota for the US as part of a deal to end the ongoing beef trade dispute, according to EU sources.
An EU source said the proposal is aimed at giving a bigger incentive to US beef farmers to export normal-treated beef in return for the US to end its sanctions.
The US has recently decided to postpone the application of new retaliatory duties to EU products while it negotiates with Brussels on a solution to the EU ban on imports of hormone-treated US meat.
The US and Canada currently pay a reduced tariff of 20 percent on the value of the first 11,500 tonnes of beef exported to the EU. Beef exceeding this quota will be penalised with a 12.8 percent tariff duty plus EUR3,000 (US$3,877) per tonne.
Under the new proposal, the reduced quota would be increased to 20,000-30,000 tonnes in return for an end to US sanctions on EU products worth about US$116.8 million per year.
France and Ireland, two of the largest beef producers in the EU, are less than excited about the deal, which requires the approval of the majority of the bloc's 27 member states.
The EU imported a total of 20,660 tonnes of US beef in 2008 worth US$99.7 million, according to statistics from the US Meat Export Federation.
