Australian meat industry licks lips at post-Brexit Europe

SYDNEY: As Britain’s divorce from the European Union begins yesterday, Australia’s meat industry is licking its lips at the prospect of a boost in exports as London scrambles to sign freetrade deals across the globe.

Pro-leave politicians promised before last year’s referendum that an exit would allow them to hammer out a series of pacts around the world, free from what they called the shackles of EU quotas and giving the country better deals.

Now, as they prepare for two years of divorce talks that could see Britain completely cut off from Europe’s gigantic free-trade bloc, officials in Westminster are keen to start work on agreements elsewhere.

And that, says Josh Anderson of industry research group Meat & Livestock Australia ( MLA), could be a big benefit to the meat industry Down Under, while a rotten meat crisis in Brazil might also provide an opening.

“Brexit provides a unique opportunity for Australia to enhance its trading relationship with the UK,” he said.

Australia and Britain will have to redefine their commercial relationship outside of the EU, with Canberra saying shortly after the Brexit referendum that it wanted a free-trade agreement with London.

The biggest buyers of Australian beef are Japan, the United States, South Korea and China, with Europe trailing far behind with exports limited by quotas and taxes.

Sales of beef and mutton to the EU account for just two per cent of its overseas shipments – but in 2015, more than half the of those sales headed for Britain.

“We have a very limited EU access,” said Geoff Pearson of the Cattle Council, which represents breeders.

“If quotas and tariffs are changed, then yes, potentially, this market will be more attractive,” he said, adding that it could be particularly beneficial for highend products.

“Australia and the UK have a rich trading history,” the MLA said in a note after June’s Brexit vote.

In the 1950s, between 50 and 80 per cent of Australian beef and veal headed to Britain but this dropped off significantly when Britain become joined the EU’s forerunner in 1973, it said. — AFP