Trade

Strong Aussie beef exports to US could trigger quota allocation system, Barnaby warns

Beef Central, 03/06/2015

Agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce has warned that above-average beef exports from Australia to the United States could trigger the quota allocation system for the first time under the current beef export arrangements to the US market.

Federal agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce.

Federal agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce.

Beef Central has speculated about the prospect for some months, most recently in this morning’s separate May monthly export summary, accessible here.

The US, while a leading beef producer and exporter of around 11 million tonnes annual production  and 1.2 million tonnes in exports in 2014, administers much of its nearly one million tonnes of beef imports (2014) through the WTO Uruguay Round or FTA quotas, the Department of Agriculture said in a statement issued a few minutes ago.

Australia has access to the US beef market through a duty-free country-specific quota of 378,214t, allocated under the 1995 multilateral Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture, plus an additional duty-free quota under the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA), which reached 40,000t in 2015, giving Australia a total duty-free quota of 418,214t for 2015.

Minister Joyce said Australia’s lucrative US beef quota was of major importance to the beef industry, and it was pleasing to see such strong exports to this key market.

“The US became our largest beef export market in 2014—worth $2.44 billion, or around 32pc of our total beef exports,” Minister Joyce said.

“It is great to see our producers capitalising so effectively on opportunities in overseas markets, delivering real returns at the farmgate and for our nation’s economy.

“Although we are halfway through the quota year, current strong exports mean we have already reached more than 55pc of our 418,214t quota for beef exports to the US.

If exports continued at the current rate, Australia could see the quota allocation system triggered for the first time under the current arrangements for beef exports.

“The Department of Agriculture will work to ensure exporters have advance notice if the quota allocation system is expected to be activated, including information on how to participate in the allocation process,” Mr Joyce said. The quota allocation system would be triggered if Australia reaches 85pc of its US beef export quota before 1 October. At the current rate of usage, this could occur by mid-August.

If that occurs, the remaining 15pc of the quota would change from being ‘first-come, first-served’ to being allocated proportionally, based on the exporter’s record of shipment.

Once usage of the quota reaches 65pc, which could be in late July at current usage rates, the department will contact exporters to start the process.

 

Source: Department of Agriculture

 

 

 

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