May 4, 2011
 

US beef shipments to EU exceeds pre-tariff volumes

When the duty-free quota for US high quality beef imports to EU first opened in August 2009, expectations were somewhat modest but based on present subscription of import licenses for May and June, US beef shipments should hit 16,500 tonnes.

John Brook, US Meat Export Federation (USMEF) regional director for Europe, Russia and the Middle East, called these results particularly impressive because they come at a time when consumption of medium-quality, domestically raised beef is sharply declining in Europe.

With the US export volume approaching 16,500 tonnes, Australia shipping roughly 3,000 tonnes and Canada adding small volumes, the 20,000 tonnes quota will be nearly fully utilised this year. Although this is positive news in terms of trade activity, Brook said it illustrates the urgency of negotiating an expansion of the duty-free quota to allow for further growth. Additional exports of high-quality beef to Europe are possible outside of the duty-free quota, but very difficult to achieve in the current economic climate, he added.

"The export figures to the EU are well ahead where we thought we would be at this time," Brook said. "We anticipated that the US might be shipping between 12,000 and 14,000 tonnes of beef meat. The average is now clear from the statistics that we are much closer to 16,500 tonnes, which really puts us almost one year in front of where we thought we were going to be. I find this all the more encouraging because the consumption of beef meat in the EU is not fantastic at the moment. There is no question that the medium quality is suffering quite badly. But it is very, very encouraging to see that despite the rising prices, the sector is still growing well."

Brook said the filling of the quota is good news in terms of trade activity, but creates urgency for negotiating an expanded quota.

"The duty-free quota of 20,000 tonnes as it has been more or less fully subscribed from the US , plus some beef from Australia and a little bit from Canada, will effectively put a ceiling on further growth in the near future," Brook said. "And now the main objective is to get that quota increased to 45,000 tonnes."