The WTO Ministerial Conference, is taking place in Buenos Aires, Argentina this week. IFA President Joe Healy said EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan cannot agree to a bad Mercosur deal which will seriously damage the Irish beef sector, their largest farming enterprise.

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Europe’s big agri food producers particularly Ireland and France are concerned that increased access will result in unfair competition as European producers will be undercut by these cheaper imports.Eleven countries have already co-signed a letter to the European Commission on the subject, according to a copy cited by Reuters. Along with concerns over beef and ethanol, sugar and poultry were also mentioned in the letter, which cautioned against the quotas on the table and was reportedly signed by Austria, Belgium, France, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Romania, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

Mr Healy said:"Beef is more important to Ireland than any other member state. Commissioner Hogan cannot agree to a Mercosur deal involving a major increase in substandard beef imports from Brazil at the same time as we face into the serious challenges of Brexit."

Together with the IFA National Livestock Chairman Angus Woods, Mr Healy is in Buenos Aires Argentina where meetings ahead of the 113th WTO Ministerial are taking place on an EU Mercosur trade deal.

Mr Healy said there is major pressure on from the EU Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström to agree a deal with the Brazil and others in Mercosur, regardless of the consequences for the European and Irish beef sector. He said based on the excessive offers DG Trade have put on the table to date it is clear.

Commissioner Malmstrom is willing to sacrifice the beef sector to secure a deal at any costs.

The IFA President said any EU deal on beef with Brazil in the Mercosur negotiations is toxic. He called on Commissioner Celia Maelstrom to come clean and reject the environmental destruction, failures on food safety and animal welfare, and slave labour associated with Brazilian beef.

The IFA President said Irish and European beef farmers are very angry at the way they are being sacrificed in Mercosur and there is bad blood over the excessive offer of an additional 70,000t TRQ offered by the EU.

"Last year, an EU JRC (Joint Research Centre) report showed how vulnerable the European beef sector is to trade deals, particularly the suckler sectors in France, Spain and Ireland. The analysis showed that increased imports from Mercosur would hit EU beef prices by up to 16 per cent, costing €5bn annually.

"Due to our export dependence, the impact on Ireland would be greater, potentially costing between €500m-€750m. In addition, Brexit has placed a major doubt over the UK market for 260,000t of Irish beef.

"With Brexit, the EU beef market would be 116 per cent self-sufficient. To negotiate a trade deal with Mercosur at this time makes no sense whatsoever."

Mr Healy said Irish and European farmers are required to meet the highest food safety and environmental standards in the world. 

"It is a total contradiction of European policy that Commissioner Maelstrom is now willing to cut a deal for more beef imports from Brazil and sacrifice sustainable production in Europe."

He said Irish beef production is four times more carbon efficient than Brazil where growth is driven on the back of destruction of the rainforests.

In addition, the IFA President said the Weak Flesh corruption scandal in Brazil in March 2017 proved once again the failure of Brazil to meet European standards. He said the EU Commission FVO report in May 2017 clearly stated "the Brazilian Competent Authority is not in a position to guarantee that the relevant export requirements are met."

President Emmanuel Macron pictured below said recently that France was "not in a hurry to reach a free-trade deal with South-American bloc Mercosur" and "“I am not in favour of hurrying to conclude before the end of the year trade negotiations for which the mandate was given in 1999,” said French President Emmanuel Macron at a recent meeting with agricultural stakeholders.Macron has already argued that the mandate should be reconsidered, in light of significant changes in the trading landscape during those intervening years.

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Beef is the main sticking point. Mercosur countries want their farmers to sell more of their beef in Europe to compensate for a rise in industrial imports.

Mercosur officials say potential beef imports represent about half of the export gains they see from any deal and say the current EU offer is unacceptable.

They are unhappy that Europe has gradually reduced the proposed amount of beef it would accept from Mercosur – from 100,000 tonnes per year in 2004 to 78,000 tonnes in 2016 to 70,000 tonnes in 2017.

The continuing battle over beef between the European Union and Argentina and Brazil could push trade talks beyond a year-end deadline and lead to further years of delay.

On-off trade talks between the EU and the Mercosur group of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay have spanned 17 years.