Changes range from minus 7 cents to plus 0.4 cents. While the quotations fell in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium and Austria, the price went up slightly in France. Unchanged quotations were reported on from Denmark, Ireland, Great Britain and Sweden. Slight displacements, connected to quotations in Great Britain and Sweden, are the result again of exchange rate changes.

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Consumer prices in the euro area (the economic and monetary union of 16 member states) rose to 1.7% per annum in July, the highest rate in 20 months, according to the European Index of Consumer Prices. However, the food price index rose by a slight 0.8% per annum, while meat prices remained stable.

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EU-27 demand for organic products continues to grow. This offers opportunities for US exporters of organic food ingredients and unprocessed products, in particular. Recent discussions between the U.S. and the EU on an equivalence agreement could further enhance these trade opportunities.

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This week, mostly unchanged quotations appear on the European slaughter pig market as is the case in Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Austria.

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THE Irish Grain and Feed Association (IGFA) yesterday called for early action by the European Commission to tackle escalating prices of animal feed. IGFA Director Deirdre Webb said both IGFA and the European feed association, FEFAC, have been lobbying the Commission.

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The Provision Trade Federation (PTF) and other trade organisations representing the meat industry, which oppose compulsory EU extensions of country of origin labelling (COOL), will meet DEFRA in mid-September to discuss voluntary alternatives.

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Sick pigs are not cared for properly, weaners are overstocked, there is a general lack of manipulable material and medicated feed — and antibiotics in general — are used to compensate for poor management, poor ventilation and overstocking.

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European poultry production is projected to growth by 8% by 2015. Consumption is set to increase by 9% in the EU, from an average of 22.2 kg per capita in 2008. And there’s still plenty of room for growth: Brazilians eat 39.9 kg of broiler per year. CeePackaging reports. However, poultry producers also face intense price pressure and fierce competition – especially with the economic downturn such as from farmed fish. Meanwhile, input costs – wheat, soya – are expected to rise. In this context, the challenge for producers and retailers is to differentiate and inject value into a meat that continues to be perceived as a low-value product.

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Altogether, the situation on the slaughter pigs market proves to be mostly steady throughout Europe this week. The quotations in Ireland and Denmark only went down by a corrected 2.7 and 3.8 cents, respectively. Currency fluctuations between the Euro and the UK Pound Sterling or the Swedish crown are said to be the reason for price increases in Great Britain and a drop in quotations in Sweden.

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Argentina's warning to would-be Euro deserters The tensions between the eurozone's north and south, and the complex and politically costly transfers of money required to dampen the euro crisis, have led many people to think the unthinkable: saving Europe's common currency may require that some countries abandon it. Indeed, talk about exiting the euro has intensified, particularly in southern eurozone countries that desperately need to regain competitiveness. But a look at what exiting the euro might mean in practice should stop such talk cold.

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Aviagen is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Jerome Noirault to the position of Management Specialist working in Europe as part of the service team.

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The quotations remain unchanged in almost all EU member countries which take part in the price comparison. In Great Britain, the quotation went down by one penny. As a result of exchange rate changes, the corrected price remained nearly unchanged.

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Wheat prices have risen by more than 50 per cent since the end of June, topping EUR 200 per tonne, according to Rabobank. The immediate cause of the spike is the continuing drought in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, which is devastating crops. EU producers France and Germany are also bracing for poor harvests. Prices rose even further this week as President Putin announced a ban on grain exports from 15 August to the end of the year.

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Big oops. Meat and milk from the offspring of cloned animals has entered the UK food chain. Cue scary headlines and scared consumers. But the leviathan of EU-lawmaking means no-one actually knows if it’s legal or not. And that’s an even bigger oops.

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Filed in Europe, Halal Integrity, Meat & Poultry New regulations voted by the European Parliament could mean that animal slaughtered in compliance with either Islamic or Jewish regulations would receive distinct labelling from animals not killed through religious slaughter.

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Dear Ministers, Commissioners and other Stakeholders: As you may know, there is a current piece of legislation in the European Union regarding a discriminatory labelling regime for Halal and Kosher meat or meat-products that are, or may in the future be, exported from your country to the EU. This legislation could have a dramatic impact on your ability to export meat or meat products to the EU and likely violates your countries' rights under various WTO treaties. Attached are position papers (in English, Arabic, Spanish and Chinese) regarding this legislation. I remain available to discuss these matters with you in greater detail at your convenience. Respectfully, Philip Pfeffer Philip A. Pfeffer Chadbourne & Parke (London) LLP Regis House, 45 King William Street London. EC4R 9AN tel +44 (0)20 7337 8084 | fax +44 (0)20 7681 3373 ppfeffer@chadbourne.com | http://www.chadbourne.com vCard: http://www.chadbourne.com/vcard/ppfeffer.vcf

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Are the Old Continent’s farmers showing that they have a real entrepreneurial spirit and serving as role models of courage and innovation during the Great Recession? Surely not all of them, but there are some inspiring examples to be found in Central and Southern Europe.

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FORECAST has found that total cereal production across the European Union this year should be close to the average of the last five years. The forecast by the European Commission shows that while the yield per hectare will be 5% above average, overall cultivated areas have decreased.

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The approval on Wednesday of six GM maize varieties by the European Commission for import into the European Union is a further sign that the bloc desires to speed up EU decisions on genetically modified crops. Under EU rules, the European Commission granted the import approvals unilaterally after EU farm ministers failed to reach a decision on the applications in June.

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The agro-food industry represents two per cent of Europe's GDP and 13.5 per cent of total employment in the EU's manufacturing sector. It consists of approximately 310,000 enterprises, including some global leaders. It continues to play a fundamental role in satisfying the needs of consumers and contributes an annual production of more than €600 billion to the EU economy. However, the entire European food supply chain has entered a period of adjustment. Consumer preferences are changing as a result of income and lifestyle developments as well as shifts in population. Customer concerns about food safety, health and prices have also imposed stringent requirements on the sector.

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European Union governments have signalled their strong opposition to proposals allowing member states to decide whether to grow or ban genetically modified (GM) crops, a Belgian EU presidency source said on Thursday.

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HUNGARY and Poland, who will each hold the six-month European Union rotating presidency in 2011, have been briefed on Ireland’s stance on the Common Agricultural Policy. A blueprint for the reform of the CAP after 2013 is due to be published by the European Commission in November and is expected to dominate much of the discussions in the Council of Agricultural Ministers for much of next year.

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The need for the European Union to regulate the breeding of animals used for food production and Eurogroup urges the Commission to take action immediately. Eurogroup was already extremely disappointed in 2007 when the EU adopted legislation on the keeping of broiler chickens which failed to include rules on the breeding and treatment of parent stock and this report confirms our worst fears. Over the years the breeding and genetic selection of animals has been focused on producing more meat, more quickly. Chickens have been continually genetically selected to grow faster, from taking four months to reach maturity in 1950 to only one month today. This extremely fast growth and the increased weight of the birds themselves places a very high toll on the animals’ welfare and health which results in many animals dying and suffering unnecessarily.

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EFSA’s Panel on Animal Health and Welfare (AHAW) has adopted a scientific opinion on the influence of genetic selection on the welfare of broilers and another opinion on the influence of housing and management on the welfare of broiler breeders.

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CEJA president Joris Baecke spoke at the ‘CAP post 2013’ conference organised by the European Commission. Speaking before Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos, Baecke identified the barriers to farm entry as being “access to land and credit”.

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The largest U.S. farm group has urged the Obama administration to begin steps towards imposing sanctions on the European Union in a longrunning dispute over the EU's treatment of genetically modified crops.

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The prices went up in the Netherlands, in Austria, Belgium and Germany. Apart from smaller numbers of pigs for slaughter being produced, slower growth as a result of the hot temperatures is seen as one of the reasons. These factors finally reached the pigs-mature-for-slaughter market. The corrected quotations remained steady in the other countries. France alone is an exemption, having its pig prices go down by a corrected two cents, against the trend.

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Economic, environmental and social issues will have to be taken into account when the EU begins to reform the Common Agricultural Policy.

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If THE importation of food into the European Union was halted, it would require an additional 35 million hectares of land to be brought into cultivation to compensate for the gap in supply, writes Andrew Arbuckle.

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The new European Union (EU) organic logo is now mandatory on pre-packaged organic food and beverage products produced in the bloc, after new labelling regulations came into force on July 1. The new logo, made up of 12 stars in the shape of a leaf, is designed to provide consumers with “complete confidence” that the goods they purchase are produced in line with EU organic farming regulations, said the European Commission.

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Mad cow disease is on the verge of being eradicated in Europe, the EU's executive arm said on Friday as it proposed an end to the systematic killing of entire herds when a sick cow is discovered.

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EU almost free of ‘mad-cow’ plans to soften 1996 regulations The nightmare of BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis – or Mad Cow Disease) is mercifully almost forgotten in the EU now. In total almost 200,000 cases of BSE were discovered in the EU. But there were only 67 cases last year and those were in very old animals probably infected many years ago.

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This practice is currently prohibited to prevent the spread of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), known "mad cow disease", reports FIS.

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Following a request from the European Commission, the Panel on Biological Hazards was asked to deliver a scientific opinion on lime treatment of solid pig and poultry manure.

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EUROPEANS are primarily aware of the need for a strong common policy, focused on agriculture and serving society as a whole. That was the underlying message from a two-month public consultative process conducted by the European Commission on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy.

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Beef imports into the EU fell sharply during the past 12 months, with less than 50pc of the Union's high-quality beef quota filled. A short supply of finished cattle globally and tighter beef-export restrictions in countries such as Argentina have contributed to the fall-off in top-quality beef imports into the EU.

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The European Commission dairy management committee has once again rejected all bids for skim milk powder (SMP) in the latest round of intervention tenders.

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European farmers want “solid” policies to protect them from Mercosur The European Farmers and Agri-Cooperatives organizations, Copa-Cogeca, called on Tuesday for a “solid” Common Agriculture Policy, CAP, to protect European farmers from Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) countries’ competition.

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Fortunately pig numbers still seem to be on the tight side, but retail demand is also slow hence spot buyers were generally operating in stand-on mode. As a result spot bacon was traded in a fairly narrow band between 140p–142p with lighter weights worth 4p–6p more than this.

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The EU beef sector, which has been plagued with problems over recent years (see AE2392, 18.12.09, M6), will be boosted by the news of a 21% jump is exports of beef and cattle to third countries in the first five months of this year.

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The decreases in Spain, Germany, Denmark, France, Austria and Britain were by 1-3 cents but still not as clear as in the previous week. In some other countries, prices remained stable, for example in the Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland.

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THE European Ombudsman, P Nikiforos Diamandouros, has criticised the European Commission for its delay in imposing restrictions on Brazilian beef imports in 2008, in order to deal with risks from foot and mouth disease.

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Livestock contribute 40% of global agricultural output and support the livelihoods and food security of almost 1bn people. Rapidly rising incomes and urbanization, combined with population growth, are driving demand for meat and other animal products in many developing countries.

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Beef imports into the EU fell sharply during the past 12 months, with less than 50pc of the Union's high-quality beef quota filled. A short supply of finished cattle globally and tighter beef-export restrictions in countries such as Argentina have contributed to the fall-off in top-quality beef imports into the EU. The high-quality beef import quota allows 85,250t into the EU at preferential tariff rates, with the bulk of the supplies coming from South America.

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A MASSIVE €175.6 million fine has been imposed by European Union regulators on 13 chemical producers for setting up a cartel on the price of animal feed phosphates which are used as mineral supplements in food for pigs and poultry.

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The president of the main farmers' lobby organisation in Europe, Copa-Cogeca, has urged MEPs to take action to prevent a new European dairy crisis. According to Padraig Walshe the EU market is still fragile and the market price does not always cover farmers' production cost.

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The European Parliament has thrown its weight behind a major report which has called for the continuation of a strongly funded Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Worryingly for Ireland, however, the report proposes a move away from the historical basis for the calculation of the single farm payment (SFP).

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In a large part of Europe, the slaughter pigs market is being affected by the beginning holiday season. This week, the price decreases range from one to six cents. In the Netherlands and Spain, the corrected quotation went down by one cent; in Germany and Denmark it fell by as much as three cents, and in Great Britain, it caved in by even six cents. The Swedish and Austrian quotations, however, remain unchanged. In Sweden, the price goes up by one corrected cent which must be attributed to Euro/Swedish Crown exchange rate changes.

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EURO-MPs are calling for a complete ban on US meat and semen imports until their authorities can prove their produce is not from a cloned animal.

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Protection of animals. The Agriculture Committee takes a vote on a second-reading agreement on legislation to restrict animal testing in scientific experiments and introduce alternative methods that cause less pain or distress to animals. (Monday) Belgian Presidency. Most EP committees hold discussions with Belgian ministers on the Council Presidency's policy priorities in various areas over the next six months (Monday-Thursday).

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How should the European Union's farm policy be reshaped and how should it be funded after 2013? Parliament set out its views in a resolution adopted on Thursday, ahead of the publication this autumn of the Commission's agricultural reform plans.

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This clearly represents the views of Europe’s citizens that they do not want Frankenstein foods on their plates. It also puts immense pressure on the European Commission to come forward with clear legislation to enforce such a ban and ensure that no products from cloned animals or their offspring are put on the European market.

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The European Union's trade chief talked up the benefits of a possible deal with Latin America's Mercosur region on Thursday, facing down strong opposition from environmentalists, farmers and lawmakers.

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Animal welfare groups have hit out at the new EU welfare Directive for broiler chickens, which has now come into force, labelling it a "farce".

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Halal and kosher meat will have to be labelled under new European Union rules. Millions of cows, goats and chickens are slaughtered without stunning each year in the UK under Muslim and Jewish practices, which enjoy an exemption from animal welfare laws. The RSPCA, other welfare organisations and the Government’s veterinary experts say the practice is cruel and should be ended, but another concern is that the meat re-enters the general food chain where it is unwittingly consumed by the general population.

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Opinions on the safety and efficacy of feed additives submitted by manufacturers for re-evaluation in the E.U. were recently published by the European Food Safety Authority’s (E.F.S.A.’s) FEEDAP Panel. The panel is re-evaluating all feed additives currently on the market, authorized under the previous regulatory framework, and in line with current E.U. legislation on feed additives for use in animal nutrition.

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International food experts have failed to agree on an acceptable level of the pig feed additive ractopamine, which has triggered trade bans by Brussels and Beijing, a spokeswoman said on Thursday.

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The EU Milk Management Committee has once again rejected all tenders for intervention stocks of skim milk powder (SMP) which were lodged last week.

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On behalf of Pfizer Animal Health, IPSOS Forward carried out a market survey on the EU swine respiratory disease market. The survey consisted of phone interviews among 617 swine producers in Belgium (69), France (100), Germany (100), Italy (100), the Netherlands (91), Spain (100) and the UK (57).

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EU promises support for farmers in event of trade agreement with Mercosur The European Commission underlined the significance of negotiations for an association and trade agreement with Mercosur and promised EU farmers “accompanying measures” for those sectors most affected, if a deal with the South American block is finally closes.

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