WMC REPORT - Rethink Needed on Hilton Quota
ARGENTINA - The Hilton Quota for exports of high quality beef to the European Union needs to be rethought and made more flexible.
28 September 2010
1 minute read
While the quota itself does not need to any changes, the uniformity of the requirements for the quota needs to be changed, according to Sebastiao Costa Guedes, the President of the Brazilian National Beef Cattle Council (CNPC).
Speaking during the Beef Committee meting of the International Meat Secretariat before the World Meat Congress in Buenos Aires, Mr Guedes said that out of the countries supplying Hilton Quota, Brazil and Argentina did not reach their quota.
However, other countries achieved their quota early.
He said that there were several reasons countries did not meat their quota. For Argentina, much of the problem has been political with the government calling for product to be placed on the domestic market.
In Brazil, the changing face of the agricultural industry and change in market parameters had changed meat production.
Mr Guedes said that there is a need to harmonise the criteria for meeting the Hilton Quota and he said that excessive requirements from the EU are leading some in the Brazilian industry to lose interest in the EU market and seek markets elsewhere.
He said that the demand from the EU for traceability requirements were forcing some in the sector to seek other markets in non-EU countries because they could achieve increased revenues.
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