In anticipation of growing volumes of U.S. beef beginning to arrive in the European Union following agreement for a duty-free, high-quality beef quota, an expert with the U.S. Meat Export Federation said a lack of grain-fed beef in the market makes for a big opportunity.

Thad Lively, senior vice president of policy, planning and research for USMEF, a contractor for the Beef Checkoff Program, says the quota might not necessarily mean massive volumes but it does open the door to the highest value end of the market. He expects that within the next three to five years, the United States will be sending as much as 70,000 metric tons of beef annually to the EU at prices that are "probably twice the average level of prices in the rest of the export markets.

Lively explained that the EU has realized it will be a beef importer rather than exporter. Meanwhile, the bloc is looking to diversify its sourcing beyond South American suppliers. Under these circumstances, Washington this spring worked out a deal whereby the EU's 20 percent tariff is eliminated.

"I think the fact that we're talking about occupying the very top end of the market makes our product and the idea of importing from the U.S. a lot less threatening to European producers," Lively said. "If we were trying to ship a product over there that was going to compete directly with European beef, which is what Brazil, for example, is doing, then clearly European producers start to feel as if they're going to have trouble competing against this inexpensive meat from Brazil. We don't have that problem, because by occupying this niche at top of market, if anything we're going to pull prices up instead of pulling them down."

Lively reiterated that the EU market will not generate high volumes of U.S. beef shipments, but will create a high-value proposition for producers who can meet the bloc's requirements.

"From a marketing perspective and from the standpoint of what we use checkoff dollars for, our focus will increasingly be on expanding the presence of the product in the market," he said. "The truth is our product just isn't well known over there. We find, primarily in foodservice but also in the upper levels of retail, that once buyers are exposed to the product they get very excited about it because it's unlike anything else they have to offer on the menu or in the retail case."

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