European Union to penalize Latin American agricultural exports linked to deforestation

The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union ratified the operational entry into force of the Regulation on Deforestation-Free Supply Chains (EUDR), imposing mandatory satellite-based traceability controls on imports of soybeans, coffee, beef, cocoa and timber from Latin America.

The measure sets penalties of up to 4% of annual turnover for traders that fail to demonstrate that their products come from land not deforested after 2020.

Agricultural export associations in Mercosur and Central America warned that the certification and geolocation costs demanded by Brussels will raise export costs by 120 dollars per metric ton, critically affecting more than 350,000 small and medium-sized farmers who lack mapping technology.

The trade volume of coffee and beef at risk of rejection at European ports exceeds 4.2 billion dollars annually.

Latin American foreign ministries issued a joint statement describing the regulation as an act of “unilateral green protectionism” that shifts the costs of the European ecological transition onto producers in the Global South, violating the principles of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

What does SurEconomics think?:

Demanding first-world environmental standards without providing financing and technical advice to small Latin American farmers is an almost neocolonial protectionism by the European Union that benefits large agribusiness multinationals and harms our producers..., once again.

Sources:

·       European Commission: Implementation Guidelines for the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR)

·       IICA: Assessment of the impact of the European environmental regulation on family farming