A-UK FTA putting runs on the board for Aussie red meat
21 March 2023
By Jason Strong, Managing Director, MLA
Australia and the United Kingdom share many similarities as countries and as people. In keeping with the sporting theme in this edition of the paper, our mutual love of cricket is one of those, although one country is more skilled than the other if this summer’s Ashes series is anything to go by!
It’s due in part to our shared values and beliefs, that Australia was the first country to sign a free trade deal with the UK post-Brexit.
The Australia-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement (A-UK FTA) will allow for tariff-free access for a huge range of goods, with some ‘sensitive’ Australian products subject to expanding volume quotas, prior to eliminating the barriers completely over various time frames.
For the Australian red meat and livestock industry and our UK customers, the A-UK FTA represents tremendous opportunities. In fact, the red meat industry’s access to the UK from Day one of the FTA will exceed the available annual access we have had to the European Union for the past 50 years.
Under this landmark FTA, future trade will be more streamlined, removing burdensome costs from the supply chain that ultimately disadvantage British consumers and stifle opportunities for Australian red meat producers.
Essentially, the FTA will mean that Australian beef and sheepmeat exports will enter the UK under a tariff rate quota (TRQ) regime, with initial TRQ tonnages gradually increasing over a ten-year transition period. Product within the TRQ amounts will enter the UK tariff free. Whilst there will be no TRQ regime post the tenth year, a volume safeguard provision will apply until the end of the 15th year, beyond which no safeguards will apply. For goatmeat, existing tariffs will be phased out over eight years.
The FTA with the United Kingdom will also go a long way to helping achieve industry’s goal of doubling the value of Australian red meat sales by 2030, as well as securing increased preferential access to key export markets. Access to new markets and boosting performance in existing ones like in the UK, will also help ensure the sustainability and resilience of the Australian red meat industry during this decade and beyond.
Just as the Australian cricket team flourished this summer, Australian red meat producers and British consumers who love our product’s taste and quality, will flourish thanks to the A-UK FTA.
