June 11, 2008

EU''s strict GM rules make poultry, hog production unviable

Poultry and hog production in the EU is no longer economically viable due to strict EU restrictions on GM grain trade, according to a leader of an association of grain traders.

Speaking Tuesday (June 10, 2008) at the International Grains Council annual meeting, Chantal Fauth, secretary general of the EU''s organization of grain traders (Comite du Commerce des Cereales, or Coceral) said the competitiveness of EU livestock would suffer a dramatic decline due to EU''s slow approval of new GM varieties.

Each process can last about 30 months, or about more than double in other regions, Fauth pointed out. Meanwhile, due to high prices locally, the region would become more dependent on imported meat.

The EU livestock sector is highly dependent on imports of protein crops from countries that have a faster GMO approval process.

However, EU grain importers incur great risk when importing non-GM crops from regions growing GM crops as whole shipments can be rejected if even a very small amount of GM material is detected.

EU on average imports some 16 million tonnes of soy and 24 million tonnes of soymeal, mainly for poultry and pig sector, according to Fauth.