• Home
• »  National News
• » Colombian dairy producers oppose FTA with Europe

Colombian dairy producers oppose FTA with Europe

By Manuel Rueda, Editorial Director

Friday, May 14, 2010

The Association of Colombian Cattle Ranchers and Dairy Producers (FEDEGAN) has asked President Alvaro Uribe to delay a Free Trade Agreement with the European Union that is due to be signed next week.

FEDEGAN fears that under an FTA, the Colombian market would be flooded with European cheese, yogurt, and cheap powdered milk, which would affect 400,000 families that currently work in the Colombian dairy sector.

On the other hand, FEDEGAN does not see how an FTA would benefit Colombian dairy producers. “There has been no FTA signed by the ministry of commerce that opens a new market for us” said FEDEGAN president José Felix Lafourie.

FEDEGAN is asking the Colombian government to implement policies that will make the local dairy sector more competitive, including subsidies and programs that will modernize dairy production and make it more cost-efficient.

Raul Plata, Colombia´s Minister of Commerce, has said that the FTA with Europe has been “well-negotiated,” adding that the FTA will only eliminate trade barriers completely in twenty years time, a provision that the Minister says will give dairy producers an opportunity to adjust.

Plata also mentioned that there are some provisions in the agreement that are designed specifically to protect dairy producers. 

For example, European countries will not be allowed to export powdered milk that has less than a year´s expiration time to Colombia, in order to keep the Colombian market from being flooded with low-priced powdered milk that is about to expire.

Colombia and Europe have also signed a joint declaration which says that the treaty will be revised if it is proven that the Colombian dairy sector and families who work in that area are being severely affected by the FTA.

President Uribe has said that the FTA “will allow Colombia to solve unemployment problems” but he also asked the Ministry of Commerce to “review what has been negotiated in the dairy sector.”