Australia's red meat industry has called for improved access to the EU market, as the negotiations on the Australia-EU Free Trade Agreement (A-EU FTA) enter their final stages.

The Australian Minister for Trade, Senator Don Farrell today (Wednesday, February 11) released a statement announcing that he is in Brussels this week, where he will meet with EU Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maros Sefcovic and EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Christophe Hansen "to progress a mutually beneficial trade agreement".

Minister Farrell said: "We have been absolutely clear that any deal must be in Australia’s national interest and include new, commercially meaningful market access for our agricultural producers.

"As we have demonstrated time and time again, Australia is ready to do a deal – but we will not agree to a deal, for deal's sake."

Australian red meat industry

Earlier this week Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) released a statement that said improved market access is "essential, and the FTA is the way to achieve it."

"With the EU only allocating quota increases to its trading partners, rather than genuinely liberalising its import regime, Australian negotiators must remain firm."

MLA serves as secretariat to the Australia–EU Red Meat Market Access Taskforce, which is the red meat industry’s steering committee on driving access to the EU market.

Andrew McDonald, chair of the taskforce, commented that Australia "cannot afford" to fall further behind other global suppliers to the EU.

He continued: “A successful deal must correct the disproportionately low quota volumes currently applied to Australian beef, sheepmeat and goatmeat entering the EU, and secure the maximum possible additional, useable access under an FTA."

"As a likeminded partner with strong value proposition, particularly in product quality and sustainability, it is reasonable that Australia secures at least a minimum of 50,000t carcass-weight (cwt) of beef access in line with what the EU has offered our competitors."

According to MLA, Australia's current country specific beef quota sits at just 3,389t shipped weight (swt).

This contrasts sharply with:

49,500t cwt secured by Brazil (assuming 50% of Mercosur’s 99,000t outcome);
50,000t cwt secured via the EU–Canada agreement.

McDonald said: “The situation for Australian sheepmeat and goatmeat is similarly inequitable."

He noted that New Zealand enjoys 125,769t of World Trade Organisation (WTO) access plus 38,000t under its FTA with the EU.

In contrast, Australia is limited to just 5,851t.

"A genuinely trade-enhancing FTA must go a long way towards addressing the imbalance by securing at least a minimum of 67,000t," McDonald added.

He said that Australia's red meat access to the EU has effectively been unchanged for nearly 50 years, and "diminishing" as a result of Brexit and a redistribution of quotas.

"This FTA represents the only realistic opportunity to remedy the competitive disadvantage we face, albeit still through restrictive perpetual quota and high tariff arrangements," he said.

According to McDonald, Australia already provides the EU with quota and tariff-free access for meat products, so the EU import regime "is a long way from being a level playing field".

"It is not a good deal for Australia if the government agrees with the EU to continue punitive restrictions on Australian red meat," he said.

"We are counting on Trade Minister Don Farrell and the government to maintain their resolve and secure an outcome that the industry can support."