Latest news with #SybilledeLaHamaide
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Farmers in EU raise alarm over Mercosur, Ukraine trade deals
By Sybille de La Hamaide and Inti Landauro PARIS/MADRID (Reuters) -French and Spanish farmers warned on Wednesday that a flood of imports under planned European Union trade agreements with South American bloc Mercosur and Ukraine risked severely undermining European agriculture. The concerns come ahead of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's official visit to France and the expiry on Thursday of a free trade deal with Ukraine, which is expected to shift to import quotas this summer. Lula said on Tuesday he would discuss the EU-Mercosur deal with President Emmanuel Macron, a strong critic of the agreement in its current form, which was finalised in December but still needs approval from member states. In a meeting with members of parliament, French farmers' groups urged Macron to rally enough partners to form a blocking minority against the Mercosur deal, which they say would be devastating for the beef, poultry and sugar industries and compromise the EU's ambitions in terms of food sovereignty. "It would be a real tragedy for our industry," Alain Carre, head of French sugar industry group AIBS said. "We're sounding the alarm." French farmers held nationwide protests last year over low incomes, rising costs, and competition from cheap imports, particularly from Ukraine and Mercosur countries, demanding fairer trade terms and lighter regulation. "Our demands (for an EU-Mercosur agreement) are simple: reciprocity of rules, traceability abroad and much clearer labelling," Jean-Michel Schaeffer, head of French poultry industry group Anvol, said. Meanwhile, a few hundred farmers protested in Madrid against cheap grain imports from Ukraine and other countries, saying prices have fallen below production costs. Spanish farmers are likely to lose 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) this year, said Javier Fatas, a leader of farmers union COAG from the Aragon region in northeastern Spain. "This happens because of trade deals signed by Spain and the EU as part of geopolitics, bringing us prices too low to sustain our farms," Fatas said. He warned that genetically modified grains from Mercosur also created unfair competition, echoing French farmers' concerns. Wednesday's protest was peaceful, but only the beginning, he added. "Bad times are coming." Here are the main EU import quotas for Mercosur products in the agreement: Product Quota Volume Tariff / Note Beef 99,000 t 7.5% tariff Poultry 180,000 t 0%, phased in over 5 years Pork 25,000 t 83 euros/tonne Sugar 190,000 t 0% Corn (Maize) 1,000,000 t 0%, phased in Industrial 450,000 t 0% Ethanol Fuel Ethanol 200,000 t One-third of MFN tariff Rice 60,000 t 0% Honey 45,000 t 0% ($1 = 0.8770 euros)
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US likely to resume Mexican cattle imports by year end, USDA chief veterinarian says
By Sybille de La Hamaide PARIS (Reuters) - The United States will likely resume Mexican cattle imports by year-end, after a halt due to the spread in Mexico of the New World screwworm pest that can devastate livestock, the U.S. agriculture department's chief veterinarian said on Wednesday. Screwworm can infest livestock, wildlife, and in rare cases, people. Maggots from screwworm flies burrow into the skin of animals, causing serious and often fatal damage. The USDA indefinitely suspended cattle imports from Mexico this month, citing the pest's northward movement. "We want to make sure that we're comfortable that the way that they're doing surveillance gives us a good picture of what our risk level is for the fly continuing to move north," USDA's chief veterinary officer, Rosemary Sifford, told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Organisation for Animal Health's annual assembly in Paris. "It's hard to say exactly when, but (imports will resume) for sure before the end of the year, unless something really dramatically changes," Sifford said. No new cases of screwworm have been found farther north than one detected two weeks ago about 700 miles from the U.S.-Mexican border, Sifford said. A USDA mission will travel to Mexico in the coming days, Mexico's agriculture ministry said on Tuesday. Sifford also gave the end of the year as a "very last" deadline for controlling the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, in dairy cows. The virus has led to the deaths of over 173 million chickens, turkeys and other birds in the United States since 2022 and infected more than 1,000 dairy herds since 2024, USDA data show. Seventy people in the U.S. have also tested positive, mostly farm workers, since 2024, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "The only new (dairy) cases that we are seeing at this point are in states where we already have herds affected and are very much associated with biosecurity problems," Sifford said. "I'm not sure if (a full halt) will happen by the summer, but we're definitely on a steady path." For poultry flocks, the summer should be "quiet" for infections, with the number of outbreaks falling in recent weeks, Sifford said. Wild birds can transmit the virus to poultry flocks, which are then culled to contain outbreaks. "We are not seeing introductions from wild birds, so we are expecting a quiet summer," Sifford said.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
French farmers bring tractors to Paris to press for looser rules
By Sybille de La Hamaide PARIS (Reuters) - French farmers disrupted highway traffic around Paris and rallied in front of parliament with their tractors on Monday, protesting against amendments filed by opposition lawmakers to a bill that would loosen environmental regulations on farming. The draft legislation proposes simplifying approvals for breeding facilities and irrigation reservoirs and re-authorising a banned neonicotinoid pesticide used in sugar beet cultivation that environmentalists say is harmful to bees. It is part of a trend in numerous European Union states to unwind environmental legislation as farmers grapple with rising input costs and households struggle with the cost of living. Environmental campaigners and some unions representing small-scale and organic farmers say the bill benefits the large-scale agro industry at the expense of independent operators. President Emmanuel Macron's opponents on the political left have tabled multiple amendments that the protesting farmers said threatened the bill. "We're asking the lawmakers, our lawmakers, to be serious and vote for it as it stands," said Julien Thierry, a grain farmer from the Yvelines department outside Paris, criticising lawmakers from the Greens and left-wing France Unbowed (LFI). Farmers across France and Europe won concessions last year after railing against cheap foreign competition and what they say are unnecessary regulations. On Monday, farmers drove their tractors along at least half a dozen highways leading into Paris, slowing the morning rush-hour traffic. Dozens gathered in front of the National Assembly on the banks of the river Seine as lawmakers debated the bill. The FNSEA farmers union said regulations needed to be simplified for French farming to be more competitive. The union and its allies also say the neonicotinoid pesticide acetamiprid is authorised in the rest of the EU and should be in France, as it is less toxic to wildlife than other neonicotinoids and stops crops being ravaged by pests.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Animal health body says vaccines needed to protect humans and trade
By Sybille de La Hamaide PARIS (Reuters) - Vaccinating animals more widely could help stop the spread of deadly diseases, protect public health and keep global trade flowing, the head of the World Organisation for Animal Health said as bird flu disrupts Brazilian poultry exports. Brazil, the world's top poultry exporter, confirmed its first-ever outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, in domestic birds last week, prompting export bans from several countries. While most countries rely on culling policies and movement restrictions, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) said vaccination could help reduce outbreaks while preserving trade. "Vaccination is a tool, it's a very good tool when it exists, but it's up to each country, region, or group of countries to identify in which case it will be useful to use it or not," Director General Emmanuelle Soubeyran told Reuters ahead of the start of WOAH's general assembly on Sunday. More than 633 million birds have been lost to bird flu over the past two decades, the Paris-based WOAH said in a report on the state of animal health released on Friday. The disease has triggered mass culling, caused billions in economic damage, and disrupted food supply chains worldwide. Bird flu has also spread to mammals, including dairy cows in the United States, and infected hundreds of people, raising concerns it could spark a new pandemic. If properly implemented, vaccination limits virus spread, protects animal health, and lowers the risk of human infection. But it is costly to develop vaccines and roll them out, and vaccination programmes often lead to trade restrictions over fears that a disease may circulate unnoticed. In France, a nationwide duck vaccination effort helped cut bird flu outbreaks from over 300 to just 10 within a year. The United States and Canada eased their ban on French poultry imports in January, citing good traceability and monitoring. Most bird flu vaccination campaigns focus on long-lived birds like ducks or breeders. Broilers - chickens raised for meat - are typically not vaccinated because they do not live long enough, which may limit immediate use in major poultry-exporting nations. Vaccination has helped eliminate or control other animal diseases, including rinderpest in 2011, the first animal disease ever eradicated globally, and only the second of any kind eradicated after smallpox in humans, WOAH said in its report. To address concerns that vaccinations may disrupt trade, WOAH is working on global standards to distinguish vaccinated birds from infected ones, the so-called DIVA principle.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
U.S. soybean exports risk 20% drop without improved China deal
By Sybille de La Hamaide GENEVA (Reuters) -U.S. soybean exports may drop 20% and prices will plunge if the United States and China fail to resolve their trade dispute limiting U.S. soybeans from their largest market, agribusiness consultancy AgResource said on Wednesday. The temporary truce in the U.S.-China trade war, announced on Monday, would not help U.S. farmers revive soy sales in China as Chinese duties, even reduced to 10% from 145%, remained too high to make U.S. soybeans competitive, analysts and exporters said on the sidelines of the GrainCom conference in Geneva. U.S. soybean exports could slump to 1.5 billion bushels from an initial estimate of 1.865 billion without a substantive deal, AgResource President Dan Basse said. Meanwhile U.S. corn exports could shed 13% to 2.4 billion bushels, he said. "It's important that any U.S.-China trade deal happens by late summer or the export forecast will become reality, pressuring U.S. farm income. The clock is ticking," Basse told Reuters. Prices would also take a hit. In the absence of a deal, Basse sees U.S. soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade falling as low as $9 per bushel, compared to $10.6 a bushel traded on Wednesday. In contrast, if a deal brought tariffs back to their previous level, soybean prices could surge as high as $13 a bushel, he added. "We are creating a major advantage for other origins, mainly Brazil, and origins like Argentina," Alejandra Casillo, president of the North American Export Grain Association, told Reuters, adding that even a 10% tariff would halt U.S. grain exports to China. China has been a critical market for U.S. farmers, representing more than half of U.S. soybean exports in the most recent marketing year. However, American farmers worry the tariff pause will not be enough to help them, as Brazil, the biggest soy supplier to China, has ample supplies from a record harvest, lower prices, and its farmers do not face any Chinese tariffs. China, the world's largest crop importer, already sources roughly 70% of its soybean imports from Brazil. Corn and wheat would fall as low as $3.70 for corn from $4.40 on Wednesday, and $4.90 from $5.56 for wheat, he said. Sign in to access your portfolio
