EU urged to end US poultry import ban

Reuters has reported that Guenter Verheugen of Germany, the EU’s commissioner for enterprise and industry, wrote in a letter to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso: “The US takes the poultry issue as a test case as to whether we are seriously ‘pro-American’.”

In 1997, the EU prohibited imports of products treated with chlorinated water. It was argued that chlorine used in this capacity posed a human health risk. The European Food Safety Authority is expected to release a report on the matter in the coming weeks.

“We should also be ready to come forward with an alternative solution if the scientific advice is mixed or negative, by examining the possibility of allowing imports while not allowing the use of the antimicrobial treatment on our own EU production,” Verheugen continued, referring to the expected to be published soon.

The EU will likely become a net importer of broiler meat in 2008, says a new Foreign Agricultural Service GAIN report. Exports are expected to decline in 2008 when compared with 2007, and broiler imports are expected to increase, the report said.

Broiler imports are expected to be 650,000 mt in 2008, while 620,000 t are expected in exports from the EU. The report further states that EU broiler exports are being hampered by Brazil’s increasing market share in the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa as well as the rising value of the Euro.