Trade deal could limit US dairy exports
Watertown Daily Times | 19 September 20010
Trade deal could limit U.S. dairy exports
NAME GAME: Some cheese varieties may be exclusive to Europe
By MARC HELLER
WASHINGTON — If cheese looks like mozzarella, tastes like mozzarella and is made like mozzarella, it must be mozzarella — but not if it comes from the United States.
That is one possible outcome of a free-trade agreement being negotiated between the European Union and South Korea that could make such terms as "mozzarella" and "feta" off-limits for U.S. producers.
The result, U.S. dairy groups say, would be a lost market for American farmers just as cheese is becoming more popular in Asian countries.
"As the American dairy industry continues to struggle with low prices and increased input costs, foreign market access must be expanded," lawmakers wrote to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, noting that cheese exports have averaged about $463 million during the past several years.
"However, America’s dairy industry will not be able to maintain, let alone enhance, its current level of exports if we do not combat European efforts to carve out the sole right for their producers to use many of the commonly used cheese names most familiar to consumers around the world," they wrote in the letter, which is being circulated for signatures in the House.
Rep. William L. Owens, D-Plattsburgh, has signed on.
A similar effort is under way in the Senate, led in part by Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa.
At issue are the so-called "geographic indicators" that can restrict certain product names to certain countries. The issue is not limited to the dairy industry; European countries have successfully limited other countries’ ability to use terms such as champagne and burgundy for certain wines and spirits.
From the Europeans’ perspective, the names protect products that are traditionally from certain regions, for instance. But in the case of cheese, many names have become so generic that consumers do not make the connection.
The South Korean trade deal is a top priority for the dairy industry because of the growing potential of South Korea as a trade partner. The United States’ own trade pact with the country could boost U.S. dairy sales there from $77 million last year to as much as $336 million a year, the U.S. International Trade Commission reported. Cheese accounts for more than half of U.S. dairy exports to Korea, according to the National Milk Producers Federation, representing farmer-owned bargaining cooperatives.
If the geographic restrictions are included in the EU-South Korea trade deal, dairy industry representatives say, the EU could make similar moves in trade deals with other countries.
