UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement: agri-food explainer (web version)
Published 16 December 2021
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The UK is renowned for its agricultural excellence, with high quality and sustainable British foods sought after across the globe. This deal supports UK farmers and creates new opportunities for our food and drink exporters.
Maintaining our high standards
The deal does not create any new permissions for imports from Australia and hormone-treated beef will continue to be banned. All food and drink products imported into the UK will have to comply with our import requirements and the UK’s independent food regulators – the Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland – will continue to ensure all food imports meet our high food safety standards.
Advancing animal welfare
We have secured a dedicated chapter on animal welfare. This includes a non-regression clause, which means both countries are committed to not lowering their animal welfare standards for the purpose of encouraging trade. We have secured a comprehensive partnership to work with Australia on animal welfare. This includes an agreement to work together internationally to raise animal welfare standards, a strong statement recognising animals as sentient beings, and sharing information and expertise on animal welfare. The UK supports the Australian pig industry’s commitment to stop using sow stalls – a practice that has been banned in the UK since 1999.
Safeguarding our farmers
The UK has secured 3 separate measures to safeguard farmers:
The first measure – known as a Tariff Rate Quota – applies to a number of sensitive agricultural products and lasts up to 10 years (including for beef and sheepmeat imports) and automatically applies higher tariffs to imports above a certain volume threshold (known as the quota).
The second measure - known as a product specific safeguard - applies from year 11 to 15, to just beef and sheepmeat imports. This has a broadly similar effect: it imposes high tariffs – of 20% for beef and sheepmeat – above a volume threshold.
The third measure – a general bilateral safeguard mechanism - will provide a safety net for industry if they face serious injury from increased imports as a result of tariff liberalisation under this deal. This applies to all products. A bilateral safeguard measure can take the form of an increase in tariffs or a suspension of further tariff liberalisation for up to 4 years, and can be reapplied more than once on the same product, if necessary. A bilateral safeguard measure can be provisionally applied for 200 days pending a full evidence-based investigation.
World class produce
British food and drink are among the best in the world and renowned for their quality and provenance. We should be unafraid of fair competition and positive about the export opportunities that exist.
There are strong ‘Buy British’ trends in the UK and strong support for British farmers. 81% of retail sales of beef in the UK is under the British logo, with Aldi, Budgens, the Co-Op, Lidl, M&S, Morrison’s and Waitrose all using 100% British beef.[footnote 1] It is likely that increased Australian imports would primarily displace EU imports – the origin of nearly 230,000 tonnes of our beef imports in 2020.
Gateway to the Pacific
The deal is a gateway to the UK joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a free trade area of 11 key Pacific markets worth £8.4 trillion which would see up to 99.9% of UK exports become eligible for tariff-free trade.
Demand for beef and lamb is increasing in the Asian market, in contrast to European markets, increasing the opportunities for high-quality British meat in this region. By 2030, two-thirds of the world’s middle classes will be in Asia, creating unprecedented export opportunities for British farming.