Dáil Éireann Debate, Friday - 16 September 2016
1620. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the beef import quotas and other food quotas agreed from Canada to the EU under the CETA trade agreement; if Irish farming interests are sufficiently protected under this deal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26390/16]
View answerThe Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement between Canada and the EU was concluded in 2014 and is expected to be ratified later this year with a view to its provisional application from the beginning of 2017. The quotas agreed for beef and other food products are outlined below:
Meat
Upon entry into force of the agreement, the total duty-free access the EU will grant to Canada for fresh and frozen beef is 50,000 tonnes (expressed in carcass weight equivalent (CWE)). This is broken down into 15,000 tonnes of frozen beef, 30,838 tonnes of fresh/chilled beef and 4,162 tonnes of fresh beef that the EU had already granted to Canada as compensation in settlement of the beef hormones dispute. The existing WTO quota for Hilton beef of 11,500 tonnes (expressed in product weight), shared between Canada and the US, will be maintained, but the in-quota duty will be brought to zero for Canada. There will also be an EU quota for 3,000 tonnes of bison.
The total duty-free access the EU will grant to Canada for pork is 75,000 tonnes CWE. To this should be added the existing WTO quota of 4,625 tonnes product weight, which will be consolidated into CETA in order to simplify the administration of this quota by customs authorities and traders. EU beef and sheepmeat market access into Canada will be fully liberalised at zero in-quota rates.
Dairy
Canada will have duty free access into the EU dairy market.
For the EU there will be a high value cheese quota of 16,800 tonnes, with provision to allow newcomers including Ireland and other Member States 30 % access to the new quota. There will also be an industrial cheese quota of 1,700 tonnes.
An additional 800 tonnes of high quality cheese will be added to an existing WTO quota of approximately 18,000 tonnes which will be restricted to existing traditional exporters. Ireland is not included in this quota.
Tariffs on milk protein concentrate will be fully liberalised and the tariff on infant formula will be reduced from 8.7% to zero.
A balanced approach informed our view of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with Canada. While increased access to the EU market was granted for Canadian beef, greater access to the Canadian market for EU dairy products, notably cheese, was also a feature. Moreover the concessions granted by Canada on market access for EU beef will be of benefit to Irish producers. I am satisfied that Irish farming interests are sufficiently protected under this deal. However, I will continue to press to ensure that the cumulative impact of beef concessions under CETA and other trade agreements is closely monitored so that the approach continues to be in the best interests of EU and Irish agriculture.
