US beef sales to the EU under the tariff-free High Quality Beef (HQB) quota increased by 10% in the quota year 2021/22 to 12,923t, up from 11,800t the previous year.

Despite the increase, just under half the available quota of 24,200t remained unused, with slow EU recovery from COVID-19 blamed for lower than expected US exports.

This special quota has its origins in the US victory over the EU at WTO for the EU ban on imports of US hormone treated beef.

It led to the creation of a 45,000t tariff-free quota, of which 18,500t was reserved for the US. This was revised upwards in 2019 to 35,000t phased in over seven years between 2020 and 2026.

As is the case with Canada, the US struggles to generate interest in production of hormone-free beef for the EU while it continues to develop its markets in Asia and the Middle East for the high-value beef cuts without the EU hormone restrictions.