Farmers’ ‘grave concerns’ over NZ trade deal
WALES’ farming community has spoken of its anger as the UK Government agreed a trade deal with New Zealand that will have a tiny impact on the UK economy but will bring more cheap Kiwi lamb into the UK.
Documents published by the UK Government show it expects “an increase in imports of sheep meat, including lamb”. In total, UK imports from New Zealand are expected to rise 40%.
Under the deal New Zealand exporters will be able to send 35,000 tonnes of lamb to the UK tariff-free for the first four years, rising to 50,000 tonnes for the following 10 years before quotas are removed altogether after 15 years.
It comes as Welsh farmers are already struggling to compete with cheaper imported meat.
The New Zealand deal itself is unlikely to boost UK growth, according to the government’s own estimates. Overall, only a tiny proportion of UK trade is done with New Zealand, less than 0.2%.
Sian Shepphard, who runs the Horse and Jockey, in Pontypool, told BBC Radio Wales that prices had gone up “astronomically”, especially on Welsh produce.
“The biggest increase has been on our Welsh produce, especially on lamb,” she said. “It has nearly doubled in price. Everything in our restaurant is locally sourced, but due to the price of lamb at the moment, we are having to use New Zealand lamb.
“It is not what we prefer, it is just that we cannot pass that price on to the customers, or afford to pay it ourselves. We can’t afford to lose customers over it.
“Last time we were working it out, Welsh lamb was 34% more expensive than New Zealand lamb.”
Ceredigion beef and sheep farmer Wyn Evans, of NFU Cymru, says there are “grave concerns” about the new trade deal.
“We are yet to see the finite trade deal,” he told BBC Radio Wales. “It is definitely a negative for Welsh farming, on top of the Australia trade deal.
“Realistically, we are very, very unlikely to export any red meat into New Zealand. It has a population of something like six million people. and they produce enough red meat to feed their population more than 10 fold, so it is unlikely to be a market for our produce.”
When asked about why Welsh lamb is currently so expensive, he said: “We have to have these prices at the moment, I am not making any more money on the lamb that I sell compared to two three years ago, because input prices are soaring through the roof.”
But UK International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said the deal “affords opportunities in both directions for great sharing of produce” and British farmers should not be worried.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, agreed the pact in a video call on Wednesday after 16 months of negotiations.
Tariffs will be removed on UK goods including clothing, ships and bulldozers, and on New Zealand goods including wine, honey and kiwi fruits.
Professionals such as lawyers and architects will be able to work in New Zealand more easily, the government said.
In a statement, Wales’ Economy Minister Vaughan Gething said: “We have engaged with the UK Government throughout the negotiation process and consistently put forward the view that UK trade agreements should not undermine our own ambitions or our domestic legislation here in Wales.
“We do not yet know the final details on the agreement, but alongside the other devolved governments have continued to raise concerns regarding the cumulative impact that offering significant increases in agricultural market access across a range of agricultural sectors could have on our domestic agricultural industry. We will continue to request that the UK Government provides us with sight of the impact analysis used to inform the negotiations of the market access agreements in this and any future free trade agreements.
“My officials will now scrutinise the detail of the agreement to determine the impacts on Wales. Once the final agreement is available and we have had the time to complete this work, we will publish a report detailing the potential impacts on Wales and our views on the agreement.”