Beef Self Sufficiency Decreasing
EU - Total EU-15 beef production in 2009 is forecast to fall 1.6 per cent to 7.1 million tonnes cwt year-on-year, according to the latest Common Market Organisation Forecasting Working Group data.Given that overall consumption is expected to fall by 0.8 per cent, the EU-15’s beef production deficit will increase 23 per cent to 295,000 tonnes cwt, reducing self sufficiency to 96 per cent.
Production in this market is expected to fall by a further one per cent in 2010, with a further 17 per cent increase in its deficit, which will need to be replaced with larger imports, as consumption is expected to remain stable, reports Meat and Livestock Australia.
Total beef imports in the EU-27 have increased 14 per cent year-on-year during the calendar year to July 2009 to 133,900 tonnes swt. Argentina has been the main supplier to this market, accounting for 33 per cent of the total, followed by Uruguay (29 per cent) and Brazil (14 per cent).
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