Why producers will need extra accreditation to get access to lucrative market

Cattle farmers could be locked out of a lucrative beef market for failing to have the right accreditation.

Australian cattle producers could be locked out of a lucrative international beef market for failing to have the right accreditation.

Despite the United Kingdom no longer being part of the European Union, it will still require beef sold into its market to be EU-accredited.

And a lack of accreditation could curtail the amount of beef Australia can send when the Free Trade Agreement comes into place.

A spokesman for the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry said there were 3352 properties in Australia which held EU-accreditation.

This was a drop of seven per cent on five years ago when there were 3609 properties.

Cattle Australia president David Foote said Australia might struggle to fill the additional quota available when the FTA comes into effect.

Currently, Australian beef into the UK is limited by quota to 3761 tonnes but this will ramp up to 35,000 tonnes as soon as the FTA is signed by both parties.

That process is sitting at the UK end, as Australia signed the FTA in November last year and is waiting for it to be ratified by its UK counterparts.

“The market signal will need to be strong to convince producers to become EU-accredited,” Mr Foote said.

“That is how it should be though – for the market signals to come back through the supply chain.”

Mr Foote said industry thought the UK would be a stand-alone market given its exit from the EU.

“The need for EU accreditation to access the UK market is more, I think, about the fact that the UK exports three million pounds of beef to the EU and does not want issues with segregation of (non-accredited) beef in their own market,” he said.

Mr Foote said the lift in quota when the FTA comes into effect was good news but questioned the appetite for Australian beef in the UK due to its price.

“If our (Australian) beef is $3 or $4/kg dearer than the UK beef, then that may curtail how much we can sell,” he said.

A spokesman for Meat and Livestock Australia said the UK was a high-value market.

Current access was restricted by high tariffs and small quotas with just 3761 tonnes of beef and 13,335 tonnes of sheepmeat.

“The Australia-United Kingdom FTA provides significantly improved market access for Australian beef and sheepmeat.,” the spokesman said.

Once the agreement begins, Australian beef will have immediate access to a duty-free quota of 35,000 tonnes, rising in equal instalments to 110,000 tonnes by year 10.