The American Soybean Association (ASA) is giving no credence to the European Oilseed Alliance (EOA) complaint this week against U.S. oilseed policy.

The EOA complaint to the European Commission (EC) alleges that the United States is in violation of its World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments with respect to domestic support programs that they claim have caused U.S. soy exports to increase and has resulted in a loss in income for European oilseed producers.

"ASA believes the EOA complaint lacks merit because since 1995/96, U.S. market share for soybeans in the European Union (EU) actually declined from 60 percent to only 41 percent in 2001/2002," said ASA President Dwain Ford, a soybean producer from Kinmundy, Ill. "The actual tonnage of U.S. soybeans exported to the EU also decreased by more than one million metric tons during the same time period – a reduction of 37 million bushels."

At the same time, EU imports of soybeans and soybean meal have increased since 1995/96, partly as a result of the EU’s ban on the use of meat and bone meal in animal feed. This has increased demand for soybean meal in animal feed rations.

Ford said that if the Europeans want to point fingers, they should point at South America. "Both Brazil and Argentina have substantially increased market share and tonnages in the EU," Ford said. "This growth in South American exports to the EU has been fueled by the massive devaluation of the Brazilian and Argentine currencies."

The growth also has been fueled by the fact that Brazilian and Argentine soybean growers have been able to enjoy the production benefits of Roundup Readyâ soybeans without having to pay for the benefits like U.S. growers do. This is due to poor intellectual property enforcement in Argentina, and widespread illegal piracy and growing of Roundup Ready soybeans in Brazil. The U.S. attaché in Brazil estimates 70 percent of the soybean crop in southern Brazil is pirated Roundup Ready soybeans.

"Based on the fact that U.S. market share and export tonnages to the EU actually have decreased while South American market share and tonnages have increased, we think this complaint against the United States is totally without merit," Ford stated. "If the Europeans want to point fingers, perhaps they should start taking Brazil and Argentina to task for their monetary policies and lack of intellectual property enforcement.

"It should not be overlooked that EU oilseed producers are much more heavily subsidized than U.S. oilseed producers," Ford said. "In 2001, EU oilseed producers received about 2.5 times more in subsidies per acre than U.S. oilseed producers.

"We suspect this complaint may be part of internal EU farm politics," Ford said. "EU oilseed producers have been lobbying for higher payments than those provided to wheat and cereal producers. This may be part of EU oilseed producers’ strategy to try to get special treatment. However, this strategy should be exposed for what it is – a ploy to try to get even higher payments and more preferential treatment for EU oilseed producers that distort EU production and world trade."