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OUR OPERATING ENVIRONMENT
Access to markets remains a critical issue for the Australian red meat industries, due to the multitude and impact of current barriers, the constant threat of new barriers, efforts by competitors to negotiate preferential access and the potential gains to be made from successful multilateral and bilateral negotiations. The removal of all existing barriers would add an estimated A$1 billion to Australian red meat producer incomes.
A clear example of the threat of competitors gaining preferencial treatment is in the free trade agreement (FTA) between Korea and the US which, if ratified, would see the import tariff on US beef progressively reduced to zero over 15 years, leaving Australian beef uncompetitive, facing a potential 40 per cent tariff. Australia needs to match such agreements to prevent losing key markets.
| IMPORT TARIFFS AND QUOTAS ON AUSTRALIAN BEEF | |
|---|---|
| Country | Effective tariff rate and/or quota |
| Japan | 38.5% (special safeguard of 50%) |
| EU | 7,150 tonne quota, in quota 20% tariff, above quota 12.8% + (141.4–304.1 euro)/100kg |
| South Korea | 40% |
| Mexico | 20%–25% |
| US | 398,214 tonne quota (expanding to 448,214 by 2022 under FTA) above quota tariff 26.4% (zero by 2022 under FTA) |
| Canada | 35,000 tonne quota above quota tariff 26.5% |
| Thailand | 32% (zero by 2020 under FTA) |
| China | 12% |
| Philippines | 10% |
| Indonesia | 5% |
| Taiwan | NT $10/kg |
