Australia seeks urgent EU beef quota talks
CANBERRA, May 21 (Reuters) - Australia is seeking urgent talks with the European Union over a new tariff quota on beef imports to ensure it will not hit Australian producers, senior ministers said on Thursday.
The quota stems from a possible settlement between the United States and the EU in a long-running dispute over hormone-fed beef, which has raised cancer fears among European consumers.
"We are keen to ensure the tariff quota is not discriminatory in its treatment of beef exporters and provides equal opportunities for access for Australian beef exporters," Australia's Trade Minister Simon Crean and Agriculture Minister Tony Burke said in a joint statement.
The United States and EU have agreed to temporarily put aside a 20-year fight over growth hormones used in American cattle feed rations that has kept most U.S. beef out of the European market since the late 1980s. [ID:nL648798].
The U.S. won a World Trade Organisation ruling against the EU's ban and would have been allowed to impose retaliatory import tariffs on a range of European goods including French cheeses.
A provisional deal will allow an additional 20,000 tonnes of U.S. beef to enter the European Union duty-free for three years, followed by 45,000 tonnes for the fourth year of the deal.
Crean and Burke said the tariff quota must be consistent with World Trade Organization rules and be available to all suppliers on a non-discriminatory basis.
Australia exports beef worth A$136 million ($105.8 million) to the European Union each year. While the EU market is not a big volume market for Australian beef, it is a high value one.
Most exports fall under the EU's High Quality Beef tariff quota, which allows beef to enter Europe on a yearly basis from seven countries including Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina.
The EU's current duty-free quota stands at 11,500 tonnes, lifting to 31,500 tonnes during the next three years.
($1=A$1.285) (Reporting by Rob Taylor; Editing by Jerry Norton)
