Beef & Veal

  • EU has self sufficient production
  • Bovine Herd of 78 million heads
  • 55% produced by FR, DE, IT
  • 6.4 million tonnes produced in 2023
Beef and veal belong to the products covered by the Common Organisation of the markets in agricultural products which provides market instruments to stabilize the sector when needed. The EU provides farmers with income support (direct payments) and interventions to stabilise the markets (Policy Instruments).

In 2023, the EU had a cattle farm of around 78 million head and a total production of around 6.4 million tonnes of beef, with close to 100% self-sufficiency.

France, Germany, Italy are today the main producing Member States. These four Member States represent together already about 58% of the EU total production.


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What EU is doing to support farmers and the market?


The European Commission implements several mechanisms to support beef prices and stabilize the beef market within the European Union (EU). These measures are designed to prevent market crises, protect farmers' incomes, and ensure the sustainability of the beef sector.

1. Public Intervention

Trigger Conditions:
  • The European Commission may initiate public intervention when, over a representative period, the average market price for beef in an EU country or a specific region falls below €2,224 per tonne.

How It Works:
  • Purchasing and Storage: Under public intervention, government agencies purchase surplus beef from the market and store it. This reduces the supply in the market, helping to prevent further price declines.
  • Market Stabilization: The stored beef can be released back into the market when prices recover, ensuring a balanced supply and demand.


2. Private Storage Aid

Criteria for Implementation:
  • The Commission may decide to grant private storage aid in response to:
    • A significant drop in average market prices.
    • A substantial change in production costs.
    • Other factors causing considerable changes in profit margins detrimental to the sector.

Purpose and Function:
  • Financial Support: Provides aid to private operators to cover the costs of storing beef products for a specified period.
  • Supply Management: Temporarily removing excess products from the market helps to mitigate oversupply and supports price levels.


3. Exceptional Market Support Measures

Circumstances for Use:
  • Exceptional measures are employed when specific situations necessitate urgent public support, such as:
    • Animal Diseases: Outbreaks that affect livestock health and can lead to market disruptions.
    • Loss of Consumer Confidence: Incidents that cause consumers to reduce beef consumption, impacting demand and prices.

Actions Taken:
  • Targeted Interventions: The EU can implement measures like market withdrawals, compensation schemes for affected farmers, or promotional campaigns to restore consumer confidence.
  • Legal Basis: These actions are enabled under Regulation (EU) 1308/2013, allowing swift and proportionate responses to crises.


4. Support for Beef Farmers through Producer Organisations

Specific Exemptions:
  • The EU supports beef farmers by allowing certain exemptions for producer organisations within the beef and veal sector.

Activities Allowed:
  • Negotiation of Supply: Under defined conditions, producer organisations can collectively negotiate the extent of supply without violating competition laws.
  • Market Coordination: These groups can coordinate production planning and marketing strategies to improve efficiency, strengthen their market position, and better respond to market changes.

Income support for Beef farmers

Farmers generally receive income support based on the size of their farm in hectares. There is a basic payment, one for sustainable farming methods ("greening") and one payment for young farmers. Other payments focus on specific sectors or types of agriculture, i.e. to help small and medium-sized farms, young farmers and those operating in areas with natural constraints and / or sectors in difficulty.

Market measures

The objectives of the EU Policy Instruments are to structure and safeguard the stability of market prices in this sector, to facilitate the marketing of products and to establish the rules in the trade with third countries, providing stability for the European producers and processors.

Market, Prices, Outlook

The European Meat Market Observatory, launched on 15 July 2016, provides a single web interface with a wealth of raw data for stakeholders in the pigmeat/beef & veal sector.  The EU Observatory has an Expert Group which meets at least 3 times a year. Summaries available inside Reports

Dialogue, Committees, Studies

The European Commission also monitors the functioning of the market with sector studies, forecasts, with committee meetings for constant dialogue with producers.