Beef price warning
Beef price warning
BEEF producers face lower prices or further moves to cut production after 2000 if the EU stalls on CAP reform, EU farm council president Jozias Van Aartsen has warned.
Speaking at a conference in Brussels on CAP policies, Mr Van Aartsen said all farming sectors, particularly the beef industry, ran the risk of tougher times if reform was not forthcoming.
The EU faced a big rise in beef intervention stocks after 2000, due to falling consumption and GATT export subsidy constraints, he said. There would be no option but to cut production or lower beef prices. Holland, like the UK, would prefer cuts in support, said Mr Van Aartsen.
In the cereals sector, he said the commission expected surpluses to reach 58m tonnes by 2005 due to GATT constraints and improved production methods. The only way to tackle the stockpile was to cut prices to market levels, he said.
But he insisted there was no need to change EU dairy policy. *
BEEF producers face lower prices or further moves to cut production after 2000 if the EU stalls on CAP reform, EU farm council president Jozias Van Aartsen has warned.
Speaking at a conference in Brussels on CAP policies, Mr Van Aartsen said all farming sectors, particularly the beef industry, ran the risk of tougher times if reform was not forthcoming.
The EU faced a big rise in beef intervention stocks after 2000, due to falling consumption and GATT export subsidy constraints, he said. There would be no option but to cut production or lower beef prices. Holland, like the UK, would prefer cuts in support, said Mr Van Aartsen.
In the cereals sector, he said the commission expected surpluses to reach 58m tonnes by 2005 due to GATT constraints and improved production methods. The only way to tackle the stockpile was to cut prices to market levels, he said.
But he insisted there was no need to change EU dairy policy. *