June 17, 2004

NAFTA May Import Argentine Fresh Beef In 2005

Canada, Mexico and the U.S., which make up the North American Free Trade Agreement, may lift their bans on fresh Argentine beef by mid-2005, newspaper La Nacion reported Wednesday, citing an Agriculture Secretariat official.
 
"(In) the second half of next year, the U.S. and Canadian markets could renew their imports of fresh Argentine beef, which were suspended in March of 2001 because of an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease," La Nacion said, after talking with Agriculture and Food Undersecretary Claudio Sabsay.
 
All three Nafta countries plan to send inspectors to Argentina in September to evaluate the possibility of renewing imports of local fresh beef, La Nacion reported.
 
Sabsay and other officials met with their North American counterparts this week in Winnipeg, Canada, which played host to a world beef conference.
 
Meanwhile, Argentine Agriculture Secretary Miguel Campos told conference attendees that they should reward Argentina for the work it has done to eliminate foot-and-mouth disease problems.
 
"The world today should recognize the sanitary work that Argentina has done and it should understand that foot-and-mouth is not a disease that can be transmitted to humans," Campos was quoted as saying.
 
While in Canada, Campos met with Franz Fischler, the European Union's top agricultural official, to discuss plans to liberalize commerce between the E.U. and Mercosur, which comprises Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
 
Argentina is seeking open access to the E.U. food market, which is currently the No. 1 importer of local beef.
 
In 2003, Argentine beef exports totaled 379,366 metric tons, or $694 million, according to the national food and animal inspection agency, Senasa.
 
The country will export between 400,000 and 420,000 tons of beef in 2004, the Secretariat has estimated.
 
Argentina is the world's No. 8 beef exporter.