WASHINGTON, Nov 15: US farm groups, fearing additional lost exports to Europe, next week will urge the Bush administration to push ahead with a World Trade Organization complaint against the EU’s newest biotech rules, industry officials said on Friday.

Stephen Censky, chief executive of the American Soybean Association, told Reuters the farm groups likely will send a letter to the US Trade Representative in coming days that will say, We think you will need to file a case and begin preparations for going forward.

Censky cited fears that the EU’s biotech labeling law, which goes into effect early next year, could seriously erode exports of American soybeans, even though they are approved for use in the EU. About three-quarters of US soybeans are grown from biotech seeds.

In addition, the American Farm Bureau Federation, an umbrella organization for US farmers, has under very active consideration a request that USTR file a WTO complaint against the EU, an official of the farm group said.

During the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the United States sold $1.1 billion worth of soyabeans to the EU, according to the US Agriculture Department.

Earlier this year, the United States filed a World Trade Organization complaint against the EU’s five-year-old moratorium on approvals of new genetically modified products.

That moratorium is costing US corn farmers about $300 million in lost sales a year, according to industry estimates.

The EU argues the moratorium is on the verge of becoming history now that rules have been approved for labels on all biotech goods that would state: This product contains genetically modified ingredients. The rules also would require a paper-trail for biotech foods moving from farm to consumer.

EU officials say the rules are based on sound science and are in response to consumer demands for full disclosure of biotech in food.

But US farm groups fear European food manufacturers will boycott American biotech commodities, such as soybeans, rather than slap warning labels on their products that could cause consumer backlash.

Censky said under the new EU labeling law, foods with soyoil from biotech soybeans will have to carry a warning label, even in the absence of detectable biotech proteins or DNA. And that, he said, could cause European food giants to turn to other suppliers.

Brazil, a major soybean competitor, claims to be biotech-free, although it is widely suspected of growing genetically modified soybeans. We could see some (European) food manufacturers, who are still using soybean oil from US soyabeans, source the soyoil from Brazil, Censky said.

He said there also was the chance EU soyabean crushers would turn more and more to Brazil for soyabeans.—Reuters