S. American Food Producers to Meet

Agriculture officials from South America’s leading food producers will meet in Buenos Aires today to reach common ground on trade and food safety issues ahead of a meeting with the European Union in April. Brazilian Agriculture Minister Marcus Vinicius Pratini de Moraes and Argentine Agriculture Secretary Antonio Berhongaray will try to settle trade rifts over pork, chickens, rice, wheat, dairy products and honey between their two nations. But they will also plan how to present a united front in pressing their trade demands on the EU. South America’s top two economies are senior partners in the Mercosur trade bloc, the world’s third largest, which wants greater access to the EU. Mercosur member nations complain the EU is protectionist, depriving them of market share and keeping prices low. A meeting of trade officials from Mercosur and the EU is scheduled April 5.