ANYTHING that reduced the tariffs on beef imported into Japan was a good thing, Bishopsbourne beef producer Phil Reader said.
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He was commenting on the signing in the USA on Monday of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal between 12 Pacific countries including the USA, Japan, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Mr Reader runs about 300 cattle and has been a contract supplier to the Tasmanian Feedlot, which supplies the Japanese market, for more than five years.
"The feedlot gets our steers," he said.
"Reduced tariffs will make us even more competitive and increase the margins on the finished product."
The TFGA also welcomed the news.
Chief executive Peter Skillern said that the outcome would improve long-term trading conditions for many Tasmanian farmers.
"We understand that the partnership is a positive step for many sectors of the Australian agricultural community, which will inevitably flow through to Tasmania," Mr Skillern said.
"This will help cement Tasmania's already well-established economic relationships with partnership countries like Japan, Malaysia and Vietnam."
The TFGA also looked forward to hearing the finer details of the arrangement and working with state and federal governments to ensure that Tasmania's agricultural sector could capitalise on the new opportunities that the partnership will bring, Mr Skillern said.
But Australian Beef Association executive officer David Byard said that farmers should not get ahead of themselves.
"From what I remember of the figures quoted, it will take quite some time before there is a reduction in tariffs to meaningful levels," he said.
State Growth Minister Matthew Groom, described the partnership as a "fantastic economic win for Tasmanian jobs, removing barriers for our exporters and unlocking potential new markets".
Tasmania's 2014-15 goods exports to countries now part of the partnership totalled $881 million and represented 34.9 per cent of Tasmania's $2.52 billion total goods export trade.
THE federal opposition says the government must release the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership as soon as possible so it can be properly scrutinised.
Trade Minister Andrew Robb has sealed the deal in the United States with 12 other countries to create the world's largest free trade area.
Bass Liberal MHR Andrew Nikolic said the TPP would build on the trifecta of free trade agreements that Australia had negotiated with China, Japan and Korea.
"In the Asian Century, the TPP allows us to harness the enormous opportunities presented by growing middle-class markets from India to Asia, which are projected to triple to 1.7 billion people in the next 20 years," Mr Nikolic said.
He said the deal would eliminate 98 per cent of tariffs in the TPP region, removing import taxes on around $9 billion of Australian trade.
"This provides new trade and investment opportunities in key Tasmanian growth sectors like beef, seafood, dairy, and wine," he said.
State Growth Minister Matthew Groom labelled it a "fantastic economic win" for Tasmanian jobs.
Mr Groom said the agreement presented "unprecedented opportunity" for the state to build on already prosperous relationship with TPP countries.
He said in 2014-15 Tasmania's goods exports to the TPP countries totalled $881 million.
But Franklin Labor MHR Julie Collins said while Labor supported trade liberalisation, more detail was needed before celebrating the deal.
"While the Liberals have assured Tasmanians that the agreement will not increase the price of medicines for Australians or undermine the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, they are asking us to take their word for it," Ms Collins said.
"The government must release the text of the agreement as soon as possible so it can be properly scrutinised," she said.
Tasmanian Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson has called on the government to "come clean" about what the deal will cost Australia.
It is expected to be months before the final drafting of the document is completed and the US Congress will then have three months to review it.
- GEORGIE BURGESS