Cattle ranchers from Australia, the world’s second-largest beef exporters after Brazil, have started receiving premiums for selling steers already standardized to meet the new import requirements of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). The information comes from the Australian website Beef Central.
The new law will ban the import of products from deforested areas. Expected to come into effect from December 30 this year, it prohibits the export of six products (cocoa, coffee, soy, palm oil, timber, beef), as well as derivatives (such as leather) produced in forest areas deforested after December 2020.
Last week, according to the Beef Central report, disruptions in cattle supply caused by rains helped push up cattle prices by 10-20 c/kg (in Australian dollars) in Queensland and New South Wales regions, but another factor also contributed to the price increase: the premiums paid for steers eligible for the EU market.
Cattle buyers for feedlots told Beef Central that 400 kg or more steers are currently being traded for around 370-375 c/kg (in Australian dollars) in Darling Downs, southern Queensland, Australia. Some feedlots have been paying above that for the same article in saleyards to fill gaps, with tops at Dalby last Wednesday for example selling up to 394c/kg.
Brazil’s Measures
In a recent interview with the newspaper Valor Econômico, the Director of the Department of Commercial Policy at the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Fernando Pimentel, said that “the Brazilian government continues to press European authorities for the necessary clarifications and flexibility to reconcile the law with the actual trade of affected products.”
According to the report, concern is growing among Brazilians as the law’s implementation approaches and the lack of responses to a series of questions from Brazil and other producers in Latin America, Asia, and Africa persists.
By the end of the year, Brazilian delegations will make at least two more trips to Europe, pressing for clarifications and flexibility in the anti-deforestation law.