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As we go to print, the EU is proposing to offer the Mercosur group of South American countries approximately 78,000t of a beef quota access.
There are hopes that the tonnage could be less than this.
A quota of 78,000t is the equivalent of 1m cattle.
The countries involved in Mercosur include Brazil, Argentena, Uruguay and Paraguay, all among the top 10 exporters of beef in the world.
Mercosur countries already enjoy considerable access to the EU beef market under favourable tariff terms.
They are currently major users of the 69,500t Hilton beef quota, which gives access to the EU at a much-reduced 20% import tariff. Argentina and Uruguay also have access to the high-quality beef quota.
This is a 48,500t zero-tariff quota that is allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, whereas the Hilton quota is allocated on a per-country basis. Among South American countries, Argentina has the largest share of the high-quality beef quota on 29,500t, followed by Brazil with 10,000t, Uruguay on 6,300t and Paraguay with just 1,000t.
Between January and July 2017, the EU imported 123,986t of beef from Mercosur countries, with almost half coming from Brazil.
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A Mercosur trade deal has been under negotiation since 1999. Many issues are resolved but a beef and ethanol access offer from the EU to Mercosur remains outstanding.
A trade deal with Mercosur is particularly attractive to the EU, and is considered more important than TTIP with the USA, which has stalled.
It would be worth €4bn annually to EU exporters, eight times more important than Canada. This has led to fears that the EU may sacrifice beef in favour of the automobile sector.
Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed and farming organisations have spoken out against a beef offer to Mercosur in the past week.
IFA president Joe Healy cautioned against a “sellout of the beef sector” considering the “possible cliff edge facing the Irish and EU beef sector in Brexit.
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