EU - FEFAC President Mr Pedro Corr?a de Barros called on the EU Farm
Council to take urgent measures ensuring adequate access of livestock
farmers to feed materials.
He welcomed the proposed decision to eliminate set-aside for the new
crop season but stressed that this measure is not effective to address the
present acute shortage of feed materials for the EU livestock population. He
noted that the only way out to cover current market needs are additional
imports of energy-rich feed materials of which the EU needs to import 15-25
million tonnes according to trade and industry experts. However, access to
imports is severely restricted due to the present EU GM policy.

Mr Pedro Corr?a de Barros warned the EU Farm Council that ?The current
EU GM policy will cripple the EU livestock industry. Livestock producers in
third countries will be able to use the GMO crops not yet approved in the EU
to feed their animals and will increasingly sell their products of animal
origin to EU consumers at a lower price compared with EU operators?.

He stressed that the systematic slowdown of GM approvals in the EU
combined with a strict 0-tolerance policy for the presence of non
EU-approved events already resulted in the loss of 4 million tonnes of CGF
(Corn Gluten Feed) and DDGS (Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles) that the
EU used to import for years from the US. CGF and DDGS are staple feeds
mainly for cattle in the ?Atlantic? EU countries (Ireland, Portugal, the
Netherlands, Spain and the UK). Their substitution has artificially inflated
feed prices in the EU by 2-3 bio. ?, out of a total cost increase for
compound feed of 10 bio. ? since last year due to higher world prices for
cereals.

Further massive feed price increases in the EU, which livestock
farmers may not be able to recover from consumers, must be expected in the
new marketing year, if traces of newly authorised GM events in export
countries appear in the supply of soybean meal to the EU, before they obtain
full EU approval.

Mr Pedro Corr?a de Barros asked Farm Ministers ?to take their
political responsibility to avoid strangling the EU livestock industry?. It
is the EU Farm Ministers? duty to maintain EU?s feed and food security by
accelerating the EU GM approval process while setting a workable threshold
for technically unavoidable presence of GM crops which have been approved in
exporting countries but are pending approval in the EU at the time of import
of feed grains. The planned EU CAP health check can meet its objective of
market-orientation and competitiveness only if the EU livestock sector is on
a level playing field with third countries operators, which is also in the
interest of their main suppliers, the EU grain producers.
[www.thepigsite.com]