News

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Thursday (27 July) promised Slovakia and other Eastern European member states he would help stamp out the “totally unacceptable” sale of lower quality food products in their markets. Read more.

The European Commission has published a long-awaited ‘inception impact assessment’ on unfair trading practices (UTPs), setting out a series of objectives and policy options aimed at improving farmers’ position in the agri-food supply chain. Learn more.

The main discussion topic of the Informal meeting of ministers for agriculture and fisheries (03 - 05 September) will be 'Empowering our farmers with effective tools to manage risks post-2020'. The EU farming sector is facing increasing market and production risks, which is a result of increased price volatility on global markets and climate change. Read more.

The IMF has issued its latest six-monthly World Economic Outlook, which again marked a continued shift towards protectionism in advanced economies. As this and other recent reports EuroCommerce warns that there is a continued move away from open trading policies. In its view, the accelerating trend of countries looking to short-term measures to protect a particular sector ignores the long-term damage, not only to the wider economy, but also the long-term cost to themselves in lost competitiveness and economic health. The EuroCommerce report is available here.

The Commission has published today (Monday 24 July) its monthly agri-food trade report featuring a highlight on the agreement the EU and Japan reached in principle on an Economic Partnership Agreement. The agreement will be the most successful ever achieved for agriculture, providing EU exporters with great opportunities. Already ranking as 4th biggest exporter to Japan, the EU is likely to become the most significant agri-trade partner for Japan with products such as pork meat, wine, cheese and spirits. The report is available here.