On March 12 the US imposed tariffs of up to 25% on imports of steel and aluminum, and derivative products from the EU and other trading partners. The EU responded by announcing counter measures and has put together a new list of products from the US that may be affected. They asked for views from stakeholders and member states on this list by March 26. This list is therefore not yet final and includes a number of important products for the EU feed industry including Soybeans. However key products on the list for the Irish feed sector are Dried Distillers’ Grains with Solubles (DDGS) and Corn Gluten Feed (CGF).
IGFA submitted a response to the Commission consultation requesting that these 2 products be taken off the list due to the likely impact on the Irish feed and livestock sectors. The final list is currently being considered by the commission and the plan is for member states to vote on it at a council meeting on 7 April. Indications are that the new tariffs on the US products on this list could become applicable from mid-April 2025.
Read the IGFA response here
EUDR has been at the top of the agenda throughout September. The EUDR was due to come into effect on 30 December 2024 and aims to ensure that products made available on the EU market are not grown on deforested land. It covers coffee, cocoa, cattle, palm oil, soy, wood and rubber.
There have been ongoing calls over many months from industry, some member states and exporting countries to postpone the implementation deadline. Most recently, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italy’s Minister for Agriculture and the Director-General of the World Trade Organization have added to this pressure, emphasising that the information necessary from the Commission to implement the regulation was not available and this would create significant disruption and risks in supply chains.
On 2 October the Commission finally made clear its intended direction by announcing that it was proposing an extra 12 months of phasing-in time for the EUDR.
Government has consulted on additional measures to include under the Fifth NAP . It proposes to include 2 new measures on CP under the Good Agricultural Practice Regulations.
The consultation also proposes non regulatory measures and says ‘to enable efficient calculation of nutrient surpluses, an animal feed sales/import database would complement the National Fertiliser Database’.
IGFA has submitted a response and circulated it to members. For further details contact maeve.whyte@eorna.ie
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