Hogan Tells Union Beef Won't Feature in EU Trade Deal with South America
WALES, UK - EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan has told farming union NFU Cymru that beef will not be part of the current trade deal negotiations between the EU and Mercosur.
11 May 2016
1 minute read
EU beef farmers have been concerned that the negotiations would involve lower tariffs on some beef products coming from the South American Mercosur trade bloc, which they say would be damaging especially during the current period of low prices.
Mr Hogan was speaking at a meeting between the Commissioner and NFU Cymru, which was held on Glamorgan NFU Cymru Chairman, Abi Reader’s mixed family farm, in the Vale of Glamorgan.
At the meeting, Commissioner Hogan said that South American beef would be ‘off the menu’ and would be withdrawn from the current negotiations with the Mercosur trading bloc.
In recent months NFU Cymru has been lobbying the Commission directly on this issue with the NFU team in Brussels, highlighting the potential damaging impact that this deal could have on specialist beef production in Wales.
NFU Cymru President, Stephen James said: “Today’s announcement from Commissioner Hogan is reassuring for the Welsh beef sector. NFU Cymru has had major concerns with regard to the impact that nearly 80,000 tonnes of additional non-tariff beef would have on beef prices across the EU.
"In Wales we pride ourselves on the production of high quality beef produced to world leading standards and we were concerned that this was going to be undermined by a flood of imports that may not have been produced to the same standards.”
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