Brussels, Belgium
5 February 2015
FEFAC, FEDIOL and COCERAL urge the EU Commission to lift immediately the present “de-facto” moratorium on GM import authorizations for food, feed and technical uses to prevent further threats to the EU food security as well as to the economic sustainability of the food, feed and EU livestock sector.
Despite these increasing threats, the EU authorization system for GM import is on hold since November 2013 due to merely political considerations. There are currently 12 GM crop import authorizations (1) awaiting final decision by the EU College of Commissioners, following completion of the EFSA scientific assessment and EU risk management process.
By continuing pledging political misconceptions, the EU risks facing a situation of serious shortages of the much needed import of agricultural commodities for food, feed and technical uses. The risk is increasing that entire shipments of agricultural commodities, regardless of whether GM, non-GM or organic products, will be blocked at EU borders because of technically unavoidable traces of the “blocked” GM products detected in imported consignments.
If decisions for import authorizations are delayed any further, EU business operators could bear massive extra-costs. If we only consider soybean meal shipments from the US - where some of these GM crops are already commercially grown - a possible blockage at EU custom would mean costs of up to 100 million euro per month.
Note:
The EU legislative authorization procedures for GM cultivation on European soil and for imports of GM products are subject to different EU legislations and therefore should not be confused. The scope of the present press release is on imports only. The EU feed and livestock sector depends heavily on protein-rich feed ingredients. Any blockage of imports would cause a severe supply crisis for EU livestock farmers, who are already facing acute economic pressures linked to import embargo for key livestock products by Russia.
(1) Maize MON 87460, Rapeseed GT 73, Soybean 305423, Soybean MON87708, Soybean MON87705, Soybean BPS-CV127-9, Maize T25, Cotton T304-40, Maize NK603, Rapeseed MON 88302, Cotton LL25xGHB614 and Cotton MON 88913
COCERAL is the European association of cereals, rice, feedstuffs oilseeds, olive oil, oils and fats and agrosupply trade. It represents the interest of the European collectors, traders, importers, exporters and port silo storekeepers of the above mentioned agricultural products. COCERAL’s full members are 26 national associations in 18 countries [Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxemburg, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK] and 1 European association [Unistock] With about 2500 companies as part of COCERAL national members, the sector trades agricultural raw materials destined to the supply of the food and feed chains, as well as for technical and energy uses. COCERAL has two associated members in Switzerland and Serbia
FEDIOL, the EU vegetable oil and proteinmeal industry association, represents the interests of the European seed and bean crushers, meal producers, vegetable oils producers, refiners and bottlers. FEDIOL’s members are 12 national associations and associated company members in 5 other EU countries. With about 150 facilities in Europe the sector provides 20.000 direct employments. Its members process approximately 36 million tonnes of basic products a year, both of EU origin and imported from third country markets. The sector processes notably rapeseed, sunflower seed, soybeans and linseed into oils and meals for food, feed, technical and energy uses essentially on the European market.
FEFAC is the European Compound Feed Manufacturers’ Federation. FEFAC represents 24 national Associations in 23 EU Member States as well as Associations in Switzerland, Turkey, Serbia, Russia and Norway with observer/associate member status, and is the only independent spokesman of the European Compound Feed Industry at the level of the European Institutions. The European compound feed industry employs over 110,000 persons on app. 4,000 production sites often in rural areas, which offer few employment opportunities.
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