March 30, 2007

South American 2006 beef exports weaken in EU
 

EU's beef imports from South America in 2006 declined by 9 percent to 462,000 tonnes per hundredweight (cwt) from last year's levels, data from the European Market Survey show.

The import decrease was mainly due to restrictions on beef from Brazil and Argentina over outbreaks on

foot-and-mouth-disease on these countries.

FMD has caused imports from Brazil to dive by 36 percent to 30,345 tonnes swt (slaughterweight). Brazil has proposed to divide its meat trading into "zones" to base the importing countries' trade restrictions from individual states.

The EU has banned meat from Sao Paulo, though FMD free, as it borders other Brazilian states where the disease is present.

On the other hand, Argentina's beef exports to EU also fell by 26 percent to 54,700 tonnes cwt in 2006 with Germany as the main importer. The constraints placed by the Argentine government contributed to the drop due to tightened restrictions to secure domestic supplies and inhibit rising domestic prices.