Sheep & Goat

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​. 75 million heads (85% sheep, 15% goats)
. 20% of EU consumption by imports
. 10% exports
. New Zealand accounts for 80% of imports

There are over 75 million sheep and goats in the European Union (85% sheep and 15% goats), often kept in economically vulnerable areas such as mountain regions. Heavy lambs (those over 13kg) are produced in Ireland, light lambs are reared in southern regions like Greece and Italy whereas Spanish and French production is mixed. Main goat producers are Greece, Spain, France and Romania. The EU backs its farmers through income support payments.

Imports account for 20% of the EU’s consumption of lamb, mutton and goatmeat. New Zealand is the EU's biggest supplier, accounting for about 80% of imports, followed by Australia and Mercosur countries. EU exports are around 10% of its total production, and where live sheep are traded mostly to the Middle East and North Africa, sheep meat is predominantly shipped to the Far East.


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What EU is doing to support farmers and the market?

As with all agricultural products, the EU intervenes:
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1. with income support for farmers, based on the size in hectares and with special measures.
2. with market measures,  to structure and safeguard the stability of market prices, rules in trade with third countries and stability for producers and processors.​

To establish interventions, the European Commission complies with the EU regulations, carries out continuous surveys on production and prices, carries out sector studies and maintains a constant dialogue with producers through their Associations.

Income support to farmers

Farmers generally receive income support based on their farm’s size in hectares. All EU countries have to offer a basic payment, a payment for sustainable farming methods (“greening”) and a payment for young farmers. They are compulsory payments, i.e. obligatory payments. Other payments focus on specific sectors or types of farming, i.e. to help small and medium sized farms, young farmers, farmers who operate in areas of natural constraint and/or sectors undergoing difficulties.

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Policy Instruments

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.

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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

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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.

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ORIGIN	ORDER NUMBER	ORIGIN	ORDER NUMBER
Argentina	09.2011	Faeroes	09.0609
Australia	09.2012	Turkey	09.0227
New Zealand	09.2013	Others	09.2015
Uruguay	09.2014	Erga Omnes	09.2016
Chile	09.1922	Iceland	09.0790
Norway	09.0781	Erga Omnes	09.2019
Greenland	09.0693

Sheepmeat and goatmeat market presentations and prices

Dashboard

• Market dashboard

Presentations

• Market situation

Prices

• Weekly market prices for sheep and goat meat

Quota

• Country allocated Tariff Reduced Quotas (TRQ):
  All quotas are managed by DG TAXUD (First Come First Served)
  Argentina  Australia   New Zealand UruguayS  WTO  Erga Omnes 1  Erga Omnes 2  Chile  Norway  Faroe Islands  Greenland  Turkey  Iceland
• Details:
  Argentina  Australia  New Zealand  Uruguay  WTO  Erga Omnes 1  Erga Omnes 2  Chile  Norway  Faroe Islands  Greenland  Turkey  Iceland

More statistics
Prices, production, surveys, forecasts, feed, trade:

• Public European Commission data on sheep and goat statistics

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Workshops "The EU sheep meat forum"

​Three workshops are taking place at the initiative of Phil Hogan, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, to explore current and future challenges of the EU sheep meat sector.

The forum brings together participants from Member States with a significant sheep meat production, as well as representatives of producers, processors and traders in sheep meat in the EU.

The 1-day workshop embraces several presentations by experts highlighting the themes of the day with a view to prepare the ground for an in-depth debate between stakeholders.

The workshops are chaired by Mr. John Bryan, a producer representative from Ireland.

• The first workshop addresses economic, social and environmental aspects of sheep farming in the Union.

• The second workshop addresses trade and food supply challenges as well as promotion initiatives for sheep meat.

• The third workshop has a stronger policy focus and wraps up conclusions from the previous two meetings.

•  The fourth and last workshop draws conclusions from the whole series of conferences and identifies key issues for future work

Click here for the Policy recommendations from the EU Sheep Meat Forum