Liberal is better than quick: Beef on the EU trade deal

In the wake of the latest free trade deal talks with the European Union falling over, beef sector leaders in Australia said no deal was better than a bad deal.

Better access for beef is one of the key aspects the Australian Government has flagged it won't back down on.

Chief executive officer of the Australian Meat Industry Council Patrick Hutchinson said there was "no need to fly into this - it is something we want to set up for our longer term future and therefore something we absolutely want to get right."

"If there is no opportunity for growth, this becomes just another market," he said.

"What we want is access to a discerning consumer who is chasing the world's best product so we want this trade deal to be the right one in perpetuity."

He said the industry would continue to place a high priority on negotiations as the EU was a valued and important market, but "holding out for the right deal" was the strategy.

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Currently, Australian beef's access to the EU comprises 3,389 tonnes of country-specific High Quality Beef quota access with a 20 per cent in-quota tariff and shared access to a 16,000t global grainfed beef quota with a zero in-quota tariff.

Access above these quotas comes with import duties of 12.8pc plus additional per-kilogram rates, which for many beef products makes trade above the quotas commercially unviable.

Those with EU importer held licences to a frozen beef quota at varying times also source Australian product.

This regime is in stark contrast to the majority of Australia's other export customer markets - which have, or are, embracing either free trade or import regime reform, red meat industry representatives said.

Australian beef exporters have continually noted that the high quality, clean and green nature of their product fits perfectly with demand coming from EU consumers.

"We are negotiating with the fact they want our product in mind," Mr Hutchinson said.

Australia's industry is adamant more liberal access would help to fill some of the gap between what EU producers can turn off and the projected EU consumer consumption requirements.

Mr Hutchinson said a particularly pleasing aspect of the EU negotiations was the light that had been shone on the importance of the red meat industry to Australia's overall economy, with the prime minister specifically mentioning beef and sheepmeat as key to its bid to secure a better deal.

He made the point that FTAs are very complicated and those that have been critical for beef in the past decade, such as with China, Japan and Korea, took a very large amount of negotiation over a long time.

"With the UK, it was far more expedient simply because of Brexit and the UK's need for a new trade structure," he said.