PRESS EMBARGO: NOT FOR PUBLICATION
BEFORE 0001 HOURS GMT, 14MARCH 1995
PRESS/4
10March 1995
LOWER ECEXPORTS STABILIZE WORLD MEAT MARKETS
Shrinking beefexports bytheEuropean Communities arehelping stabilize supplies andprices
intheworld meat markets, andaregiving other countries achance toexpand shipments. In1994,
significantly reduced ECbeefexports wereoffset byincreased exports ofmostother major world beef
exporters, inparticular theUnited States, andenabled Australia, despite asmall decrease inshipments,
torecover fromtheECtherankoftheworld 'snumber onebeefexporter. Thetrend should continue
in1995when aprojected 17-per centdropinECbeefexports could becompensated byincreased beef
saleselsewhere, withtheprobable exception ofBrazil.
These areamong thefindings contained inWTO 'sannual report1ontheinternational meat
markets published today. Aspecial annex tothereport, published separately, summarizes theUruguay
Round commitments onmarket access formeat products andonsubsidized meat exporters for41
countries andtheEuropean Communities. Thereport examines trends inproduction, consumption,
trade andprices ofbeef(including veal)andsummarizes developments inpigmeat, poultry meatand
sheepmeat. Itoffers anoutlook for1995andlistssignificant meatpolicy developments inthe27member
countries oftheGATT Arrangement Regarding Bovine Meat.
Thereport saysthattheworld market formeatin1994 wascharacterized bylarge supplies
ofredandwhite meat andademand, which inthefaceoftheeconomic recovery appears tohave
strengthened. LedbytheRepublic ofKorea andtoalesser extent byJapan, EastAsian markets continued
tobethemost buoyant withstrong demand forbeefandpoultry meat inparticular. While showing
some signs ofstabilization, thecountries oftheformer Soviet Union andmost Eastern andCentral
1TheInternational Markets forMeat 1994/95 andSpecial Annex: Summary oftheResults ofthe
Uruguay Round intheMeat Sector areavailable inEnglish, French andSpanish from theWTO
Secretariat, Centre William Rappard, 154ruedeLausanne, 1211 Geneva 21,SwF25andSwF15,
respectively.
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European countries continued tobeaffected bysharply reduced herds anddecreased domestic demand.
InNorth America, record meat supplies resulted inlower prices, strengthened domestic demand,
restrained market access andanincreased USshare inworld meatexports.
Theadjustment oftheECmeatindustry totheCAPreform wasillustrated bysharply reduced
stocks andlower exports. InSouth America, highcattle inventories enabled Uruguay totakeadvantage
ofincreased foreign demand. InArgentina, export growth wasduemostly tolower domestic
consumption.Ontheotherhand,Brazil'smeatindustrystruggledtokeepwithsurgingdomesticdemand.
ForOceania, beefexports were hindered byimport restraints inNorth America, which were only
marginally offset byhigher salestoEastAsia.
In1995, world production ofallmeats isforecast toexpand further andconditions seem to
besetforarelatively goodyearintheinternational meatmarkets. Demand formeatshould strengthen
inparallel withcontinued economic recovery. Given verylowbeefstocks andlimited output growth
intheEC,aswellasforeseeable strong import demand fromBrazil, international prices intheAtlantic
markets should strengthen. InthePacific Rim,beefprices arelikely tobesustained bycontinued import
demand inAsian markets. But,while theUruguay Round should result inhigher USbeefimports,
continued large overall meatsupplies intheUSmarket could result inafurther beefprice decrease.
Increased production inChina andtheUnited States isexpected tokeeppigmeat prices under pressure.
LowertradebarriersandreducedexportsubsidiesresultingfromtheUruguayRoundwillbenefit
meatproducers worldwide byexpanding export opportunities andstrengthening prices. Inthreemarkets
alone -theEuropean Union, Korea andtheUnited States -theUruguay Round willresult innewexport
opportunities ofnearly onemillion tonsofbeef bytheyear2000, according totheSpecial Annex .
Theimpact oftheUruguay Round onthemeatsector include:
- Tariff bindings. Themajority ofcountries, notably inCentral andSouth America,
havebound theirtariffs onmeatproducts between 15and50percent. Anumber of
countries, including Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, NewZealand andSingapore have
bound atloworduty-free levels onpoultry andsheep meat. Bound duties ofabove
100percentpredominate inWestern Europe.
- Increased market access opportunities. TheUruguay Round requirement ofminimum
market access in1995 foragricultural products of3percentofaverage consumption
in1986-88 andincreasing to5percentbytheendoftheimplementation period will
expand considerably export opportunities inmajor meatmarkets. TheUnited States
willrepeal itsMeat Import Lawandestablish atariff quota of656,621 tons. TheEC
willopen141,000 tonsofcurrent access opportunities plusanother 20,000 tonsunder
itsminimum access commitments. TheRepublic ofKorea willincrease itstariffquota
onbeeffrom 123,000 tonsin1995 to225,000 tonsintheyear2000. Forpigmeat,
newaccess opportunities willbeopened during theimplementation period, notably
intheEC(62,000tons),Poland(24,000tons),ThailandandtheCzechRepublic(10,000
tonseach). Forpoultry meat, there willbenewexport opportunities inSouth Africa
(12,000 tons), theEC(11,000 tons) andHungary (5,000 tons).
- Reduction ofexport subsidies. Between 1995 andtheyear2000, thevolumes
subsidized exports ofmeatwillbereduced by21percent,which should helpstrengthen
world prices. ForWestern Europe, thiswould mean thereduction ofsubsidized beef
exports from1.1million tonsin1995toslightly above 800,000 tonsintheyear2000.
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NOTE TOEDITORS:
With theentry intoforce oftheWTO atthebeginning oftheyear, theInternational Bovine
Meat Agreement hasreplaced theGATT Arrangement Regarding Bovine Meat (1980-1994). The
Agreement aimstopromote theexpansion, liberalization andstability oftheinternational meatand
livestock market byfacilitating theprogressive dismantling ofobstacles andrestrictions toworld trade
inbovine meatandliveanimals, andbyimproving theinternational framework ofworld trade tothe
benefit ofconsumers, producers, importers andexporters. Tothisend,theAgreement provides for
acomprehensive information andcooperation mechanism withrespect tooutput, consumption andtrade
inbovine animals andbovine meat.
Asat31January 1995, theAgreement hasbeenaccepted bythefollowing: Argentina, Brazil,
Canada, Chad, theEuropean Communities andits15member states, Japan, NewZealand, Norway,
Romania, Switzerland, theUnited States andUruguay. Other countries areexpected toaccept the
Agreement shortly.
TheInternational Meat Council (IMC) administers theAgreement. Likeitspredecessor, the
newIMCwillmeettwice ayearand,supported bytheMeat Market Analysis Group, willcontinue
toevaluate themarket situation andoutlook based onbackground information provided bytheWTO
Secretariat. Itwillalsoreview thefunctioning oftheAgreement andwillprovide aforum forregular
consultations onallmatters affecting international trade inbovine meat. Developments intheworld
markets forpigmeat, poultry meatandsheepmeat willalsocontinue tobereviewed atIMCmeetings.
END