TASMANIAN beef producers should benefit from the free trade agreement with Japan, Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association meat council chairman Brian Stewart said.
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Mr Stewart said that the high Australian dollar had been hurting the beef export industry, and feed-lot suppliers, in particular, would welcome the reduced tariffs that the agreement brought.
"The agreement will make most of the beef industry more competitive - all in all, it's a step in the right direction that will be good for the beef industry, the more volume we can get into Japan the better," Mr Stewart said.
The agreement will make most of the beef industry more competitive - all in all, it's a step in the right direction that will be good for the beef industry, the more volume we can get into Japan the better
- Brian Stewart
TFGA chief executive Jan Davis said that Tasmanian commodities faced mixed fortunes with the signing of the agreement.
"Many commodities will still face tariffs that protect Japanese agriculture but Australian agricultural producers do not have tariff protection from Japanese imports," she said.
"And what may be good for our beef exports is not replicated for dairy."
Ms Davis yesterday added her voice to the dairy sector's disappointment at its place in the agreement.
Australian Dairy Industry Council deputy chairman Robert Poole said on Monday that there had been no movement in the agreement on fresh cheese, "the number one objective for Australian dairy".
"Tariffs will remain at 29.8 per cent," a disappointed Mr Poole had said.
"A successful outcome on this tariff line would have delivered about $60 million in tariff savings - instead we have received nothing and the tariff stays in place.
"While Most Favoured Nation status has been put in place for cheese in trans- Pacific partnership agreements, the exclusion of all other product lines leaves us vulnerable to one of our competitors reaching a more wide-ranging deal with Japan and that could leave the Australian dairy industry worse off.
"This has been an agreement over six years in the making, and sadly, from the dairy industry's perspective, will end up providing no meaningful benefit."
Ms Davis said that while the TFGA recognised the achievement of securing an agreement with Japan and the previous FTA with South Korea, "let us not delude ourselves that we now have a level playing field".
"Like the National Farmers Federation, we are disappointed with the overall outcomes for agriculture - a number of sectors face limited economic gains," Ms Davis said.
"There are pluses for Australian beef, horticulture and seafood, but the agreement does not improve, or much improve, market access and terms of trade for dairy, sugar, grains, pork and rice."
