International Egg and Poultry Review - By the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service - This is a weekly report looking at international developments concerning the poultry industry, this week looking at the signing of a FTA between Oman and the US.

Oman and US Sign FTA

On 19 January, Oman became the fifth Middle Eastern country to sign a free trade agreement (FTA) with the US. The agreement must still be approved by legislators in Oman and the US Congress, which US Trade Representative Rob Portman expects to happen early this year.

On the first day it is in force, 100 percent of consumer and industrial goods and 87 percent of agricultural tariff lines will be duty free. U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman said, “The FTA with Oman builds on our existing agreements with Israel, Jordan, Morocco and Bahrain. We are also negotiating an FTA with the United Arab Emirates and have signed eight Trade and Investment Framework Agreements (TIFA) with Middle East Nations.”

The US has been actively pushing for trade liberalizing deals in an effort to establish a Middle East Free Trade Area (MEFTA). MEFTA proposes bringing 23 Middle Eastern countries, including Israel, into a trade pact with the US by 2013. Formal discussions with Egypt are expected to begin this year.

USTR Portman said the U.S. is working with South Korea, the seventh largest U.S. trading partner, to resolve a number of bilateral trade issues to lay the groundwork for FTA negotiations. An FTA with South Korea would be the largest for the U.S. since the North American Free Trade (NAFTA) with Canada and Mexico.
Source: Office of the United States Trade Representative Ress Releases, BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest www.ictsd.org

Belarus

The Ministry of Agriculture and Provisions has banned poultry product imports from 20 countries due to concerns about avian influenza, most recently adding Turkey and Romania to the list on banned countries.

Italy's Measures for Avian Influenza Recovery

The EU Commission is likely to initiate a formal procedure against the Government of Italy for having introduced mandatory country-of-origin labeling on poultry meat and other market measures that conflict with EU internal market competition rules.

Italy cited food safety concerns when it passed an ordinance to establish mandatory country-of-origin-labeling (COOL) for all poultry meat products produced in Italy and imported from EU and non-EU countries for direct consumption and further processing. The EU Commission observed the Italian measures breached article 28 of the Treaty establishing the European Union as the labeling would pose extra burdens on products imported from other member states, therefore being equivalent to a quantitative restriction. Italy could leave COOL as voluntary or propose mandatory COOL at EU level.

Italy's Parliament converted an October 1, 2005 emergency Legal Decree into law on November 30, 2005 (Law 244/2005) which allows the Government of Italy to use a budget of 20 million euros (about 24 million dollars) to withdraw poultry meat from the domestic market, to allow a discount to affected farms on social security payments and other payments due the Government for a cumulative amount of 10 million euros, and to use up to 20 million euros of a public disaster reserve to finance industry recovery. Under EU’s Common Market Organization for poultry meat, market withdrawals are not allowed. Italy’s plan for market withdrawal is currently unfunded.
Source: USDA/FAS, news wires

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Source: USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service - 31st January 2006