Bad news for beef in latest assessment study on TTIP

The 394-page impact assessment, commissioned by the European Commission two-and-a-half years ago, and carried out by independent consultant Ecorys, was released on Friday evening.

It contains sobering reading for those in the European beef industry by confirming the predictions of previous reports on TTIP with its expectation of a 0.5% contraction in output in the European ruminant meats manufacturing sector, should a deal go ahead.

This contrasts with a 0.4% expected increase in output in the ruminant meats manufacturing sector in the US, should the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal proceed.

In terms of primary agriculture, a 0.5% increase in output is predicted for the US, while a lower 0.1% increase is predicted for its European counterpart.

Job losses

Moreover, job losses are predicted for those in the European ruminant meat manufacturing sector in the event of a TTIP agreement, with a 0.2% decrease in employment expected for those in less and more skilled job roles.

In contrast, a 0.3% increase in employment is predicted for those employed in less and more skilled jobs in the US ruminant meat manufacturing sector.

Vulnerability of the beef sector

The report also illustrates the huge vulnerability of the European beef sector by highlighting the protective tarrifs currently in place on US beef imports into the EU.

For example, in 2013 the EU placed tarrifs on beef imports from the US to the value of $422,000, while the US placed tarrifs to the value of $104,000 on beef imports from the EU.

Any balancing out of these tariff rates could have an unprecedented impact on the amount of US beef entering Europe and vice versa.

There are also, as the report points out, "numerous regulatory hurdles" to overcome on food standards in order to reach a TTIP deal.

Although it stresses that it is "not suggesting all these problems should be addressed in a TTIP agreement", the report's list of regulatory barriers is extensive.

On the EU side, policies restrict the import and use of US agricultural commodities derived from agricultural biotechnology (eg maize and maize byproducts) and underline that the EU does not accept US beef raised with growth-promoting hormones.

The EU also does not approve of pathogen reduction treatments used in US beef (except for lactic acid) and poultry production, and prohibits the use of the growth promoter ractopamine in pork production. Under requirements for dairy imports, the EU limits the number of somatic cells (SCC) in raw milk, where US producers are allowed to sell milk with higher SCC levels. US exporters of apples and pears also complain that EU requirements on maximum residue levels of pesticides are stricter than international standards.

Comment

Responding to the EU Commission's report, Sinn Féin MEP Matt Carthy, who has previously denounced the secrecy under which TTIP negotiations are taking place, said it "confirms our worst fears about the devastating impact of TTIP on the Irish beef sector".

“The Irish state is specifically warned in this report to expect a severe decline in our beef industry, with associated job losses, due to the unfair competition from industrial-scale US agriculture that TTIP will bring about," Carthy said.

He added that the Commission's study shows that TTIP will lead to "a massive increase in imports of US meats in particular, while exports of European farmers will not rise by nearly as much.

"This means that any removal of tariffs and non-tariff barriers will benefit the huge food corporations in the US."

Moreover, the MEP highlighted the report's assessment of the expected impact on the environment and climate change, claiming it calculates that TTIP will lead to a major increase in carbon emissions of over 21m tonnes – "flying in the face of the carbon emission reduction targets set by the EU and the climate conference in Paris last year".

Next steps

The report will be presented during the Civil Society Dialogue on 30 May in Brussels, during which there will be time for questions and feedback. However, all stakeholders can submit their feedback, questions and comments on the report via email to tsia-ttip@ecorys.com. The deadline for submitting feedback is Thursday 9 June.

Leaked documents

Only this month, France announced its opposition to a TTIP deal in the wake of a media storm over documents leaked by the environmental non-governmental organisation Greenpeace on the trade deal negotiations.

Most of the criticisms levelled at the negotiations were related to the risks posed to agriculture and Europe’s food safety standards.

The chapter on sanitary and phytosanitary measures makes frequent reference to products of modern agricultural technology, which includes genetically modified organisms (GMOs), with Greenpeace saying these details clearly indicate pressure to get rid of trade barriers for GMOs.

The leaked documents also say that Europe and the US “shall participate in the Global Low Level Presence Initiative to develop an approach or set of approaches to manage low-level presence in order to reduce unnecessary disruptions affecting trade”, leading to concerns that EU resistance to unauthorised GMOs will be eroded.

EU Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström hit back at Greenpeace in the wake of the leak and insisted that the TTIP documents reflected the negotiating positions, “nothing else”.

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