|
U.S. poultry officials express concerns about EU trade deal
Story Date: 6/3/2013
| |
Source: Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE, 5/31/13
The U.S. poultry industry will not support a proposed bilateral trade agreement that doesn’t provide real market access to the European market for U.S. poultry, National Chicken Council Senior Vice President Bill Roenigk told the United States International Trade Commission Thursday.
Roenigk delivered testimony at a public hearing on behalf of the National Chicken Council, USA Poultry and Egg Export Council (USAPEEC) and the National Turkey Federation (NTF) in response to the request for comments concerning the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) that appeared in the Federal Register on April 1.
Roenigk said, "Without a successful outcome for poultry in the TTIP agreement, the U.S. poultry industry will seriously question the need to support such a bilateral trade agreement."
Roenigk said the EU theoretically is an attractive potential market for U.S. poultry. The EU-27 has nearly 400 million consumers and a high standard of living. In recent years, EU-27 annual poultry imports ranged from $1.6 billion to $1.9 billion, with more than 60 percent being imported from Brazil. Industry analysts estimate the market for U.S. poultry exports to the EU are around $600 million on an annual basis. In the longer run, however, the EU-27 market potential is even greater, as per-capita poultry consumption in EU-27 is almost18 kilograms (40 pounds). This compares to 44 kilograms (97 pounds) in Brazil, 43 kilograms (95 pounds) in the United States, and 39 kilograms (86 pounds) in Argentina.
"Theory, however, does not provide sufficient grounds for real market access," Roenigk said. "As seen in the past, the European Union acts aggressively by overly-protecting the domestic poultry producing industry. Non-tariff barriers, especially technical barriers to trade, prevent import competition from U.S. poultry."
For more stories, go to http://www.meatingplace.com/.
|
|
|
|
