Browse Data and Analysis

This guide provides an overview of health certificates needed for exporting plants, animals, foods, and other animal origin products to the European Union. U.S. regulatory agencies have been informed of the wide range of certificates changes that have occurred in the past months and have updated their export manuals to reflect those changes.

This report provides an overview of EU food and feed legislation currently in force for the EU. USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) staff reviewed and updated all sections of this annual report.

After an EU-wide drought in 2022, the EU27 dairy herd is forecast to drop below 20 million head in 2023. This will lead to a continued decrease in milk production and deliveries for factory use despite higher farm gate milk prices. As EU dairy processors continue to favor cheese production, the decrease in milk deliveries will be at the expense of butter and non-fat dry milk (NFDM), and, to a lower extent, lower whole milk powder (WMP) production, despite high world market prices.

This report updates several sections of the European Union’s “Oilseeds and Products Annual” report released in April 2022. Updated sections include soybean, rapeseed, and sunflower. Increased areas of about 10 percent for all three major oilseeds but lower average yields for sunflower, and rapeseed are forecast to result in a total of about 3 percent higher production in MY 2022/23.

Total EU27 sugar production for MY 2022/23 is forecast at 16 million metric tons (MMT), a decrease of 330,000 metric tons (MT) from MY 2021/22. This is the fifth consecutive year that the EU internal sugar production cannot meet domestic sugar consumption.

The European Union (EU) follows a complex, rolling system of review for active ingredients and Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs) in food. For agricultural inputs, U.S. farmers must know early in the process of review to prevent or mitigate the loss of, and/or access to, chemical inputs.

One of the goals of the EU’s Farm to Fork (F2F) Strategy is to enhance the EU’s animal welfare legislation. The enforcement of existing legislation on animal welfare during transport has proven difficult in past years.

As part of the European Green Deal's Farm to Fork Strategy (F2F), the European Commission (EC) aims to review EU legislation for animal welfare and align it with the general sustainability goals. In particular, the EC has requested the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) provide scientific opinions for new animal welfare initiatives.

On February 16, 2022, the European Commission launched a four-week call for evidence on an upcoming report that will assess the rationale and legal feasibility of applying EU health and environmental standards to imported agricultural and agri-food products such as animal welfare standards, processes, and production methods.

Just over one third of the European Union (EU) budget, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for 2023-2027 was formally adopted after extensive stakeholder dialogue and negotiation between the co-legislating EU institutions: the European Commission, the Council of Member States (MS) Agriculture Ministers (AGRIFISH), and the European Parliament.

Climate change is an increasing challenge for Austrian agriculture and Austrian agricultural policy. The Austrian government tries to counteract the adverse effects of the climate change through specific climate protection programs and measures.