UK free-trade deal with Australia and New Zealand looms
UK free-trade deals with Australia and New Zealand are due to come into force next week, on 31 May.
Sections of the UK beef industry have been hugely nervous about the prospect of more Australian beef further pressuring a suckler cow herd that has shrunk 16.5% since 2005 to 1.46 million cattle.
Concern is mounting, with the NFU warning back in February that the deal had little to offer UK farmers and would “completely liberalise” Australian imports for beef and lamb after 10 years.
The tariff rate quota (TRQ) for Australian beef imports is initially set at 35,000t and will then increase annually to reach 110,000t after 10 years, before then being removed.
New Zealand’s TRQ will allow access for 12,000t of beef to come to the UK market tariff free in the first year, and then increase incrementally by 2,980t each year.
National Beef Association chief executive Neil Shand has played down the negative effect of the trade deal, adding that the volume of incoming beef is likely to be limited by distance.
Farmers Weekly
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