Queensland trade to Europe to ‘dry up’ unless farming gets more sustainable
With our steak set for tables at high-end London restaurants and our sugar sweetening delights at Paris patisseries, local farmers have also been given this warning.
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Queensland beef is soon to be served up on plates in high-end London restaurants, while the state’s sugar heading to the largest refinery in Europe, as deals are lined up with top buyers so products and money will flow as soon as the UK trade deal is done.
But there are warnings lucrative export opportunities will “dry up” unless Australian farming becomes more and more sustainable.
Agriculture Minister Murray Watt returned this week from a mission to Europe and the UK to get the trade deal with Britain over the line, after it has been held up by political turmoil and MPs concerned about impacts on their own farmers.
The right for Aussie farmers to use the names feta, prosecco and parmesan also continues to be a sticking point in the EU trade deal, with Senator Watt fighting for farmers’ rights to keep using the names as many have an emotional and familial connection to Europe.
The UK FTA will be worth $850 million a year to Queensland alone.
Smithfield Meat Market in London, the 800-year-old market used by London’s top restaurants to source their meat, and Tate and Lyle Sugar refinery are among the buyers willing to pay a premium for Australian and Queensland produce as soon as the UK passes the necessary legislation.
“The buyers there are keen to buy Australian meat and beef because it’s high quality, sustainably grown and they’re prepared to pay a premium for it,” Senator Watt said.
“Tate and Lyle mill on the Thames are really excited about the possibility of buying Queensland. Until the 1970s they bought a lot of Queensland sugar, but because of changes to tariffs in the 70s they had to stop buying.
“What the UK FTA is about is not only opening a much bigger market for Queensland producers, but also a high value market.”
But he said there was no doubt Australia’s ongoing ability to sell produce overseas relied on demonstrating high sustainability standards, with his trip partially dedicated to demonstrating what farmers were already doing.
“If we don’t produce more and more sustainably, these export markets will dry up and we don’t want that to happen,” he said.
“This is responding to the market and the market is demanding more and more sustainable produce.”
The Minister’s trip included three days in London for talks on the UK FTA and four days in Berlin for the Agriculture Minister’s Conference at the Global Forum for Food, where the issue of naming rights for prosecco, feta and parmesan was frequently raised.
“I made the point to them, that’s a sensitive issue to our producers. There’s a lot of emotional attachment for our producers, it’s often farmers with European heritage and strong cultural ties,” he said.
Under the UK FTA Australia’s beef export limit would increase from 4699 tonnes per year to 35,000 tonnes with no tariffs in the first year and rising to 110,000 tones by year 10.
The sugar quota would increase from 4964 tonnes to 80,000 tonnes with the tariff cut in the first year to 220,000 tonnes.
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