State urged to support meat industry

THE Government has been urged to ensure the future of the country’s beef industry is defended and not sacrificed in European Union attempts to reach a new world trade deal.

Meat Industry Ireland, representing processors, made the call, after claiming that a blatant “softening-up” process by the European Commission in the context of the WTO negotiations is extremely worrying for Irish and European agriculture.

MII said the EU offer on import access has simply been banked by other WTO partners such as the USA and Brazil without any equivalent or reciprocal moves on their part, either on agriculture or industrial products.

Suggestions from EU Farm Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel of the possibility of further concessions by the EU on agriculture were extremely worrying for Irish and European agriculture, it said.

“The EU offer already on the table, which proposes to cut import tariffs by 50-60%, will, according to the commission’s own analysis, increase EU beef imports from 500,000 tonnes to 1.3 million tonnes per annum,” it said.

MII said neither the current offer nor further concessions will result in imports of an extra kilogramme of beef from developing countries whose development needs are at the heart of the Doha Trade round.

“In reality, EU import concessions will only facilitate increased imports from Brazil to the European beef market, which will displace Irish beef produced under much higher food safety, consumer assurance and eco-friendly standards and at considerably higher costs.”