AGL 40.00 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
AIRLINK 127.25 Increased By ▲ 0.21 (0.17%)
BOP 6.60 Decreased By ▼ -0.07 (-1.05%)
CNERGY 4.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.22%)
DCL 8.57 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (0.23%)
DFML 41.75 Increased By ▲ 0.31 (0.75%)
DGKC 87.50 Increased By ▲ 0.65 (0.75%)
FCCL 32.40 Increased By ▲ 0.12 (0.37%)
FFBL 64.99 Increased By ▲ 0.19 (0.29%)
FFL 10.30 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (0.49%)
HUBC 109.51 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-0.05%)
HUMNL 14.75 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (0.48%)
KEL 5.08 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (0.59%)
KOSM 7.56 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (1.34%)
MLCF 41.50 Increased By ▲ 0.12 (0.29%)
NBP 59.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.91 (-1.51%)
OGDC 192.35 Increased By ▲ 2.25 (1.18%)
PAEL 28.11 Increased By ▲ 0.28 (1.01%)
PIBTL 7.84 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.13%)
PPL 151.21 Increased By ▲ 1.15 (0.77%)
PRL 26.49 Decreased By ▼ -0.39 (-1.45%)
PTC 16.15 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (0.5%)
SEARL 83.48 Decreased By ▼ -2.52 (-2.93%)
TELE 7.77 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.78%)
TOMCL 35.42 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.03%)
TPLP 8.12 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
TREET 16.05 Decreased By ▼ -0.36 (-2.19%)
TRG 53.15 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-0.26%)
UNITY 26.67 Increased By ▲ 0.51 (1.95%)
WTL 1.27 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.79%)
BR100 9,985 Increased By 101.4 (1.03%)
BR30 31,147 Increased By 547.3 (1.79%)
KSE100 94,178 Increased By 822.4 (0.88%)
KSE30 29,173 Increased By 242.5 (0.84%)

UK farmers have little to fear and much to gain from a new enlarged European Union of 25 countries, the country's National Farmers' Union (NFU) said in a report on Tuesday.
Britain was unlikely to be hit by a flood of cheap imports and UK farmers had time to establish themselves in the new markets after the 10 mainly east European countries joined the bloc on May 1, according to the NFU.
"Enlargement will bring further export opportunities, with high economic growth rates a trait of new entrants over the next decade. Over time, an increasing number of people in the new member states will benefit from rising incomes," NFU president Tim Bennett said.
"When this happens, they will look to buy more value-added and premium products such as luxury dairy products, cheese and poultry, thus offering British farmers a lucrative opportunity but they will need to take on the challenge of other competitors to win these markets," Bennett added.
The union said UK farmers would face immediate competition in areas such as oilseeds, fruit, vegetables and poultry, but growers in the new member countries would have to comply with European health and safety regulations, which were often costly to implement.
"It is a fallacy that the UK will be a victim of a flood of cheap imports agricultural trade with many of these countries has already been liberalised to a large extent, therefore competitive pressures are forecast to increase only gradually," said NFU economist Simon Michel-Berger.
The 10 new countries joining the EU on May 1 are the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Cyprus and Malta.

Copyright Reuters, 2004

Comments

Comments are closed.