European Union: COVID-19 Hampers 2020 US High Quality Beef Quota Exports to the EU

The first full year of the newly negotiated U.S. specific High Quality Beef (HQB) quota with the European Union ended with U.S. beef exports reaching 12,806 MT. With a total of 18,500 MT reserved for U.S. beef for 2020, this leaves 5,694 MT of quota unused in 2020. This is the result of the high focus of U.S. beef sales to the European restaurant sector, which was mostly shut down in both the spring first wave and the autumn second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Because the HQB quota year stretches from July 1 through June 30, 2,470.5 MT of the unused quota will be carried over to the next quarter of the U.S. specific quota. Under the new Agreement, the U.S. specific HQB quota for 2021 increased to 23,000 MT.

European Union: COVID-19 Hampers 2020 US High Quality Beef Quota Exports to the EU