EURO BRIEFS

19 October 2001

EURO BRIEFS

&#8226 IRISH food and farming organisations have launched a new code of practice for the changeover to the k at the start of next year. From Nov 1, 2001 to Mar 9, 2002 all farm input and output prices will be expressed in both Ir£ and ks. Precise conversion rates will be used and no party will seek any price advantage from the changeover. Quotes will use the metric system rather than imperial.

&#8226 RUSSIA has banned all imports of meat and livestock products from Florida amid fears of anthrax contamination, reports Agra Europe. The decision could have a rapid impact on poultry prices, with about 40% of the countrys poultry meat coming from that one US state.

&#8226 THE UNs Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has decided to postpone its World Food Summit that was to be held in Rome next month, as a direct result of the attacks on the World Trade Centre on Sept 11. The summit was supposed to study ways of eliminating starvation in the world.

&#8226 BRUSSELS has agreed a k155m (£97m) package to help fight animal diseases in Europe next year. The bulk of the funding, some k114m (£71m), will pay for BSE test kits as member states press on with their testing of over-30-month animals and fallen stock. The remaining k41m (£26m) will be for controlling a range of other diseases, focussing on scrapie, brucellosis, tuberculosis, rabies and salmonella. &#42