Prospect of increased Mercosur beef quota angers lobby group

Anger is mounting in the farming lobby over claims that the European Commission is set to cave in to demands for enhanced access to Europe for South American beef.

According to the European farm lobby organisation COPA, a meeting between the commissioners responsible for trade and agriculture and representatives of the Mercosur group produced an offer to raise the ceiling for beef imports to just short of 100,000 tonnes.

This is a significant departure from the 70,000 tonnes that was the Commission’s original bottom line position.

The EU farm commissioner, Phil Hogan, has warned that increasing milk production in some EU member states, including the UK and Ireland, is unsustainable and has urged member states to demonstrate a more responsible approach to prevent another plunge in milk prices.

This warning came against a background of growing concern in Brussels over the 380,000 tonnes of milk powder it has in intervention stores.

The commission now faces the challenge of selling this on a falling market, prompting suggestions that it should go into animal feed or be used for food aid programmes.

The commission has set its milk powder buying intervention limit at zero for this year.

The European Commission has agreed a budget of 140 million euro to tackle livestock diseases this year.

Livestock diseases targeted include African swine fever, salmonella and bovine tuberculosis.

Some of this funding will be used to protect the EU’s border with high-risk countries, but it will mainly be spent on disease programmes in member states.

A third of the funding will be used for the costs associated with attempts to eradicate TB, 18% for rabies and 15% for salmonella.

As Brexit approaches, how to fund a similar programme in the UK will be on the Treasury agenda. The UK will also have to decide whether it wants to remain a player in trans-European disease eradication initiatives.

Meanwhile, in a concrete sign of Brexit approaching, the EU plant variety office has stopped sending material to the UK for examination, because trials would not be completed before Brexit is triggered in March next year.