World Trade Organisation (WTO) chief Pascal Lamy yesterday urged the European Union and the United States to make concessions on agriculture to achieve a breakthrough at global trade talks.

"Both need to make efforts, and that is the issue that will allay the concerns of many developing countries who want freer trade - and things will be a lot better," Mr Lamy told French television.

Leading developing and farm goods exporting countries piled the pressure on the European Union yesterday to break the deadlock in world trade talks by agreeing to deeper tariff cuts.

"A substantial effort by the EC (European Commission) on market access is essential to unblock the (trade) round ... (it) must be tabled by next week," the G20 group of developing countries said in a statement.

The 17-country Cairns group of farm exporters also said the EU had to come up with a new offer.

"Without this the Hong Kong ministerial conference is at risk," it said, referring to a meeting in less than two months when the WTO must approve a detailed blueprint for a new trade treaty.

The chairman of the WTO farm negotiations - New Zealand envoy Crawford Falconer - told delegates at an information-sharing session that "we are already out of time" to produce a detailed farm deal in Hong Kong.

Ministers from five core WTO members the United States, the EU, Brazil, India and Australia - failed for the second time in little over a week to make progress on agriculture, the most politically sensitive area of the WTO's Doha Round.

Key EU farm producers, led by France, are resisting any further concessions. The EU says it needs to see parallel progress in other areas of the round such as industrial goods and services.

The EU has put on the table cuts to its highest tariffs - those over 90 per cent - of "more than" 50 per cent. Lower tariffs would be fall by between 20 and 40 per cent.

But 8 per cent of tariff lines would fall less in order to shield politically sensitive goods such as beef and dairy.

A Cairns official said the EU offer gave an average cut of 25 per cent - and less if the "sensitive" products were included - which was below the 36 per cent agreed at the last global trade talks from 1986-93, the so-called Uruguay Round.

The United States and Australia say that the EU must come back with something between the 54 per cent average cut proposed by the G20 developing country alliance and the 75 per cent sought by the United States. - (Reuters)