The End of EU Broiler Export Refunds Will Hurt France

On July 19, 2013, the EU suspended all export refunds for poultry. These refunds had been going almost exclusively to two French exporters of frozen broilers. Unsurprisingly, the decision has been strongly criticized in France. While eliminating the export refunds will not stop all French poultry exports to the Middle East, is likely to further weaken the industry, which has already been experiencing financial difficulties.

On July 18, the EU Commission decided to suspend export refunds for poultry meat. Commission Implementing Regulation 689/2013 sets all poultry meat export refunds to zero. For the past few years, only exports of frozen whole broilers benefited of export refunds, and only to specific countries, i.e., Commonwealth of Independent States (Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan,
Tajikistan, Kyrghyzstan), Angola, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq and Iran.