Source: Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE, 9/26/14

U.S. beef exports to Europe were growing under a new duty-free quota established in 2009, but since then competition from other countries has added another obstacle, according to the U.S. Meat Export Federation.

Thad Lively, the group’s senior vice president for trade access, said in an audio report Tuesday that inroads for Australia and Uruguay in particular have dampened growth for U.S. beef in the EU quota, which also now welcomes product from Canada and New Zealand.

The total duty-free quota capacity is 48,200 metric tons per year. EU imports from the U.S. under this quota, helped by the removal of a previous 20 percent duty, reached 17,664 metric tons during the most recently concluded quota year (July 1, 2013, through June 30, 2014).

U.S. beef producers had envisioned plenty of room for further growth, but the EU has since granted access to other players.
“Not surprisingly, the volumes have increased dramatically,” Lively said. “And even though we’ve seen an increase in U.S. beef exports under the quota each year, Australia and Uruguay in particular have really ramped up their shipments.”

The industry’s frustration stems from the fact that the duty-free quota for beef produced from non-hormone-treated cattle was the result of the U.S.’s successful challenge of Europe’s beef hormone ban with the World Trade Organization.

“I think there are a lot of people in industry who are struggling to understand why we’re sharing this quota with other countries, and they’re also very concerned that the growth we’ve seen in our exports of beef to Europe could come to an end if we don’t find a way to get things back to where they should be,” Lively said.

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