The volume of agri-food exports will increase by 25-29% by 2030 thanks to free trade agreements, according to a study published by the European Commission on Tuesday 26 January.
It assesses the impact of trade agreements on European agriculture and is based on 12 free trade agreements in force, under negotiation or ratification: Australia, Canada, Chile, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mercosur, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. The study shows that the increase in exports will be greater than that of imports, creating a positive trade balance in the European agri-food sector.
Dairy products, pork, cereals, wine and other beverages are the sectors that will benefit most from this increase. On the other hand, the beef, sheep, sugar, poultry and rice industries will face increased imports, which will have a negative impact on European producers.
The European Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, stressed the potential impact of the trade agreement with the Mercosur countries saying, “difficulties expected in the beef sector are mainly because of Mercosur”. Beef imports could increase from 21% to 26% depending on the scenario, with between 69% and 82% of this meat imported from Mercosur countries.
On the latter free trade agreement, Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis confirmed that fundamental issues needed to be addressed before ratification could begin.
The study also assesses that the use of quotas in free trade agreements can be effective in protecting more vulnerable products. In this regard, Mr Dombrovskis repeatedly pointed out the positive results of the study on the effect of trade agreements: “Some sectors face greater challenges, but it is essential that any assessment takes into account the overall balance in order to have an impartial picture”. He added that the multiplication and recognition of geographical indications would strengthen the export potential of European products.
For the Commissioner for Agriculture, the ‘farm to fork’ strategy will be an indispensable lever to offset the import surplus. “I think that an active trade policy is important for agriculture, but the biggest chance for EU farmers is the promotion of farm to fork”, Mr Wojciechowski said .
See the study: https://bit.ly/3qUDMjW (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)