By Barry Shlachter, McClatchy Newspapers –
FORT WORTH, Texas — The European Union said Wednesday that it’s moving to end a drawn-out trade war over hormone-treated beef from the United States and Canada — not by lifting the ban on such meat but by allowing more hormone-free carcasses and cuts.
The action, part of a phased-in quota increase agreed to in 2009, will aid the minority of producers like Bonds Ranch of Saginaw that raise beef cattle for Europe.
It may also indirectly boost the beef cattle industry at a time when Texas ranchers are deciding whether to restock after last year’s devastating drought. Texas, the biggest producer, now has about 4.4 million breeding cows, down 660,000 from last year after the biggest drop in history.
“Not everyone has organized their business for this, but for the people already there, it’s a good deal,” said David Anderson, a livestock economist with Texas AgriLife Extension Service, part of the Texas A&M University System. “It gives us more access to export markets and it’s certainly good for individual ranchers in terms of higher prices, or at least the potential for them.”
Last year, the EU imported 82.5 million pounds of certified hormone-free beef, representing slightly more than 3 percent of total U.S. beef exports, Anderson said, citing U.S. government trade figures. Small compared with exports to Japan, Mexico and South Korea, Anderson said, “that works out to $150 million, which is a lot of money.”
The new quota will rise in stages until about August, when it will allow 10 million more pounds into EU countries.
The hormone dispute has troubled trade relations since 1988, when the Europeans, citing health concerns, banned imports of beef that had been treated with certain growth-promoting hormones, affecting mainly U.S. and Canadian producers. A U.S. Agriculture Department report said the ban was apparently motivated by “political and economic” considerations, saying the hormones were tightly regulated and are safe.
The report, citing the National Beef Cattlemen’s Association, said the hormones were introduced in the 1950s and are used on about two-thirds of all cattle and about 90 percent of those that pass through feedlots. They make cattle grow larger and faster on less feed, resulting in lower costs and leaner meat with less cholesterol. Organic beef is produced without hormones.
In 1996, the U.S. and Canada complained about the EU ban to the Geneva-based World Trade Organization, which upheld the challenge and allowed punishing import duties on such Europeans products as Roquefort cheese, Dijon mustard, lingonberry jam, fresh truffles and various beef and pork products, including ham.
The U.S. tariffs, costing European producers an estimated $250 million, were lifted in May 2011. Italy was hit hardest, losing potential exports valued at about $99 million.
“This long-lasting trading dispute will end today,” Godelieve Quisthoudt-Rowohl, a conservative German member of the European Parliament, said in an EU news release. “This is a win-win resolution for the EU. Parliament has taken a step that will enable the EU agricultural industry to plan ahead again and that will strengthen transatlantic trade links.”
The measure was passed without changes by a 650-11 vote Wednesday in the European Parliament.
Missy Bonds, an assistant manager at the Bonds Ranch who is responsible for exports, said the expansion of the European market could bring more ranchers and packers into the niche field.
“Over the past few years, it’s been an up-and-down market,” said Bonds, a TCU ranch management grad and a third-generation rancher. “One year, 90 percent of our calves stayed in the (hormone-free) European program, other years 40 percent.”
