Canada Begins Trade Talks With EU

The European Union and Canada have agreed to launch talks on a trade pact worth an additional $27 billion each year to their combined economies, suffering from dwindling trade because of the financial crisis. “It is a great success today. We signed the start of a process leading to the deepening of our economic co-operation,”

EU Cracks Italian Milk Scam

Italian authorities have seized assets worth 21 million euros ($27.73 million) from companies evading European Union fines for exceeding annual milk production quotas, EU antifraud investigators said April 15. Citing a final ruling issued by Italy’s Supreme Court , which may not be appealed, the EU’s anti-fraud unit OLAF said an important precedent had now


EU Calls On Farmers To Start Adapting To Climate

Europe’s farmers must think how to adapt to climate change in coming decades, altering their practices to cut greenhouse gas emissions, make agriculture more resilient and keep land in use, a European Commission paper said. The uneven effects of climatic change were likely to widen regional differences across the European Union’s farmland and increase economic

U. S. Ranchers Eye More EU Access For Beef

U. S. ranchers who raise cattle without growth hormones may gain more access to European markets if the United States and European Union settle a beef trade dispute that has lasted more than 20 years, a U. S. industry spokesman said March 16. But the size of the additional market access has not been determined,


EU New Market For Canada Canola

Europe’s acceptance of genetically modified canola seed represents an important new market for Canadian farmers, but purchases from the world’s largest exporter of canola seed are unlikely any time soon. The European Commission ruled March 10 to allow import of a type of canola, which German seed developer Bayer CropScience created by modifying the canola

EU Farm Prices Seen Recovering After 2010

Europe’s agriculture markets will start to recover in the medium term due to encouraging demand expectations but global economic gloom will weigh heavily on prices at least until 2010, an EU study showed March 17. In its market outlook through to 2015, experts at the European Commission said demand would be especially hit in higher


EU Farm Export Refunds Seen Unlikely After 2013

The European Union will use export refunds (subsidies) as an emergency measure to support agricultural prices until 2013 but must then find new mechanisms, a leading official with the European Commission said March 11. If world prices are lower than internal support levels, the EU refunds the difference to exporters. “I personally don’t see that

EU Slaps Duties On U. S. Biodiesel Imports

Akey European Union trade panel approved on March 3 temporary anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on imports of biodiesel from the United States, sources with knowledge of the decision said. “It went through with no problem,” one source told Reuters on condition of anonymity after a meeting of the EU’s anti-dumping committee of 27 national trade


EU To Tackle Breakfast Cereals Cancer Risk

The European Union will try to set maximum levels of a potentially cancerous chemical after several countries recalled breakfast cereals that contain it on the packaging, the EU executive said March 5. Several EU countries, including Belgium, Germany, Greece, Portugal and Spain, are believed to be affected but the problem is not seen as serious,

EU Eyes Dumping Duty On U. S. Biodiesel Sources

The European Commission plans to propose anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on imports of biodiesel from the United States, sources familiar with the proposal said last month. In a separate move that is also likely to agitate sensitive transatlantic trade relations, a probe by the EU executive into a U. S. clampdown on European online gambling