Australia’s sheep industry is urging the government to press for significant increases in market access for red meat in the Australia-European Union free trade agreement (FTA).
One week ahead of Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell meets with his EU counterpart in Osaka, Japan, the peak body for Australia’ sheep meat sector Sheep Producers Australia (SPA) urged the government continue trying to level the playing field on the EU bloc for the red meat sector, including sheep meat, beef and goat meat.
The sector said on Oct. 23 that the EU has continued to impose “highly restrictive and unfair quota position” for Australian red meat imports despite Australia’s consistent efforts to negotiate since mid-2018.
The EU is Australia’s third largest two-way trading partner and represents a hugely important market with more than 450 million people and a GDP of some US$16.64 trillion (A$26.24 trillion).
SPA’s chief executive officer Bonnie Skinner said for about five decades, Australia has had “incredibly low volume access” to the EU market and faced very high tariffs compared to regional competitors such as Canada, South America, and New Zealand.
Ms. Skinner added that the government shouldn’t sign the EU deal just for the sake of making a deal this year and instead focus on lowering Australia’s barriers into the European market in the face of negotiation tactics from the EU. She said the country’s sheep meat industry had met EU customer demand for high quality products.
“We have time for further negotiations—we don’t have to get this done now. EU parliamentary elections are not until mid-next year, so it’s simply not true that we have a limited window to get this deal done,” she noted.
“We are grateful for the efforts the Australian Government has made so far in continuing to push for better outcomes for the entire agriculture sector—but we agree this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the red meat industry to improve our market access—and we’re all looking to Minister Farrell and his government to maintain their resolve and level the playing field,” she said.
Meanwhile, the National Farmers Federation (NFF) said farmers were worried that they would be at a disadvantage if the Australian government signed a deal that is not commercially meaningful.
“Everything we’ve seen so far would actually send parts of our sector backwards.
“We’ve never seen a proposed trade deal like it.”
The sentiment is echoed by the Australian Meat Industry Council (AMIC), which said the FTA provides a rare opportunity for Australia to correct the restrictive system set out by the EU.
“Australia’s negotiators have worked hard for years to get to this point on the promise that ‘sensitive’ products such as meat will be negotiated in good faith at the 11th hour,” AMIC chief executive Patrick Hutchinson said.
“Our industry has been at the coal face for decades developing this market and if this deal falls short, it will put Australia’s red meat sector at a massive disadvantage for years to come.”
“We don’t just want any deal; we want the best deal.”
