Beef exports to South Korea may suffer
Sydney Morning Herald | April 21, 2008
Beef exports to South Korea may suffer
Soaring Australian beef exports to the lucrative South Korean market could suffer after South Korea lifted restrictions on US imports.
Australia last year exported more than $800 million worth of beef to South Korea, the third largest export market for Australian beef farmers.
South Korea slapped a ban on US beef imports after a BSE - mad cow disease - scare in 2003.
The two countries have now agreed to progressively lift the ban, and Australian farmers are worried they could lose market share as a result.
David Inall, executive director of the Cattle Council of Australia, said the BSE ban had helped Australian farmers.
"We have obtained significant market advantage. Presumably (lifting the ban) will have some impact in that area," Mr Inall said.
However, he said, lifting the ban was also a positive for Australian farmers because a health scare like BSE was bad for business.
Mr Inall said the main threat posed by the ban’s lifting was that a US-South Korea free trade deal could now become law - which meant dramatic tariff cuts for US beef.
US and Australian beef exports to South Korea attract a 40 per cent tariff but under the US Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that will fall to zero within 15 years, Mr Inall said.
Australia urgently needed to follow suit with its own FTA.
"It really only serves to reinforce the need for Australia to go down the path of a free trade agreement with Korea," Mr Inall said.
"It’s imperative that Australia strikes a deal with parity of access otherwise we will be placed at a clear disadvantage."
He said Australia was in the early stages of negotiating a FTA with South Korea but it was a long process.
