Coceral, the European grain and feedstuffs traders and Fefac, the EU
compound feed manufacturers welcome the new EU Commission report on the
economic impact of unapproved GMOs, which concludes on the ?need to take
urgent action to avoid negative implications for EU livestock production and
agriculture overall?.
JeanMichel Aspar, Coceral President, stated that ?the present strict
zero-tolerance policy of the EU is disproportionate and will lead to a
complete halt of vital feed supplies from South and North-America, as no
trading company will bear the risk of guaranteeing absence of traces of GMOs
approved in some third countries but not yet in the EU?.

He stressed that ?the EU is totally dependant on soybean meal imports
as major source of vegetable proteins, for which no substitutes are
available in sufficient quantities on EU or world markets?.

Major feed cost increase

Pedro Corr?a de Barros, Fefac President, stressed that the current
de-facto import ban for corn gluten feed will increase feed costs to the EU
livestock industry by another ?60-90 million at a time of record-high feed
grain prices.

He pointed out that ?a similar ban on soybean meal imports will have
devastating consequences for European livestock producers, wiping out entire
pig and poultry production chains in the EU?.

Safeguard viable livestock industry

Coceral and Fefac have therefore called on the EU Farm Council to
safeguard a viable livestock industry in the European Union, which accounts
for 40% of the farm revenues, by ensuring reliable access to vital feed
material imports.

As demonstrated in the DG-AGRI study, the ?CAP Health check?
objectives of a more competitive and sustainable EU agriculture cannot be
achieved unless solutions are found to address the issue of unapproved GMOs.

Toolbox ingredients

Coceral and Fefac take the view that a ?toolbox? with the following
key elements is necessary to re-establish normal trading patterns ensuring a
regular supply of high-quality feed materials for the European livestock
industry:


a.. aligning the speed of the GMO authorisation procedure between
the EU and the major exporting countries;
b.. a risk proportionate, workable tolerance for the low level
presence of products that have obtained a positive EFSA opinion or have been
approved by another OECD country to be present in cargoes of traded feed
materials.


[www.allaboutfeed.net]