Europe wants to limit imports of soy from Brazil

The European Parliament has submitted a request to restrict the import of soybeans from Brazil. The wish is that European traders must prove through mandatory certification that the soybeans they import do not damage the forest in South America.

In the plenary session of the European Parliament last week, the request was made to restrict the import of Brazilian soybeans through mandatory certification. According to the European Parliament, this will ensure that soybeans destined for Europe, the tropical rainforest and other forest areas in South America do not damage. Until now, soy importers have insufficient insight into the origin of their product. "We all agree that our voluntary measures have failed," MEP Delara Burkhardt said.

Concerns about deforestation
Concerns have been expressed for some time from the European Union about large-scale deforestation in Brazil and about genetically modified varieties in soybean cultivation. That is why the European Parliament now wants the European Commission to submit a proposal for a European regulation on the protection of natural forest areas. According to the Parliament, this should take place in the short term and the European Timber Regulation should be taken as an example. This means that the import of tropical timber is now strictly regulated.

It is not only in the European Union that there are concerns, the organizations of the European grain trade (Coceral), compound feed industry (Fefac) and oil (Fediol) also support initiatives to protect the tropical rainforest. However, this method is not supported. "If the European Union stops buying soybeans from Brazil, other buyers will step in and the rainforest will hardly be helped," they say. The organizations point out that the European Union has only 15% of the world trade in soy, while China has 58%.

Individual initiatives
The idea of ​​the European Parliament is not new. In recent months, individual countries have already announced that they are striving for soy from a deforestation-free source. Denmark For example, wants about 2021% of soy imports to come from deforestation-free sources by 20. The following year, that percentage should increase to 40%. Finland put earlier already a small step by stopping the import of soy. This country wants to get rid of soy imports for animal feed within a few years (by 2025 at the latest).

Kimberly Baker

Kimberly Bakker is an all-round editor at Boerenbusiness. She also has an eye for the social media channels of Boerenbusiness.

k.baker @boerenbusiness. Nl

© DCA Market Intelligence. This market information is subject to copyright. It is not permitted to reproduce, distribute, disseminate or make the content available to third parties for compensation, in any form, without the express written permission of DCA Market Intelligence.