Norway under pressure from TTIP to lower meat tax

Norway remains outside the 28-country EU and hence is not part of TTIP negotiations, but the deal could impact Norway’s trade in many ways, Hege Medin, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) senior research fellow told GlobalMeatNews​. NUPI is currently assessing the impact of TTIP on Norway’s trade and is due to submit a final report to the government by September (2016).

According to NUPI, one possible scenario would be to “seek a separate trade deal with US or if not look into the possibility of becoming part of TTIP negotiations​”. However, in either case, cutting tariffs on agricultural imports was a “likely demand​” [including meat] by negotiating parties, Medin said. “These are possible scenarios we are looking at and it is up to the government to finally decide on it.​”

Around 4% of Norway’s seafood exports go to the US, she said, and the Norwegian government would be under pressure to protect this market, which could be undermined by a TTIP deal excluding Norway (including losses of EU market share to US exporters): “We could expect a fall in exports due to TTIP, but it could be avoided by having a separate deal with the US.​”

Big impact​

This would probably mean a lessening of Norway’s protection of its meat producers. The country’s current tariff rates on meat imports are among the highest in the world. Its standard import duty rate is a massive 429% for lamb whole carcases and NOK76.96 (US$9.35) per kilogramme of deboned lamb. For beef fillet, the rate stands at 344%, while whole carcase is NOK32.28 (US$3.92) per kg of whole carcase.

Pig meat has a tariff of NOK24.64 (US$3.00) per kg, while deboned product is NOK64.96 (US$7.90) per kg, according to statistics from Kjøtt- og fjørfebransjens Landsforbund (KLF), Norway’s meat and poultry association.
 
The KLF’s CEO Bjørn-Ole Juul-Hansen defended these rates, saying it was “important to protect the country’s meat sector​” and farmers. Instead, Norway has tended to accept limited import quotas with lower tariffs – for instance from South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries [Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka]. He said there were no efforts to lower import tariffs on meat in Norway. Instead the government was negotiating on allowing quotas from some countries, which he said would not have any big impact on the domestic meat sector.