Sheep and Beef sector welcomes TPP agreement

Sheep and Beef sector welcomes the recent agreement to move forward with the TPP agreement

25 May 2017

Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) and the Meat Industry Association (MIA) welcome the recent statement by the Trade Ministers of the eleven Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) countries in Hanoi to work towards bringing the trade agreement into force expeditiously.

The TPP agreement has significant value for the New Zealand sheep and beef sector, particular improved access into Japan for New Zealand beef exports, say B+LNZ CEO Sam McIvor and MIA CEO Tim Ritchie.

“We are pleased that the 11 TPP member countries see the benefits of the agreement, even without the United States. In particular, the TPP11 is a prime opportunity to open up better market access into Japan – something successive New Zealand Governments have been working to achieve for over 20 years,” McIvor said.

“Japan is New Zealand’s fourth largest beef market despite facing a high tariff of 38.5% on beef exports. Australia enjoys a tariff advantage of 8.6% for chilled beef and 11.3% for frozen beef because of their bilateral FTA with Japan. This tariff differential is having a negative impact on New Zealand’s market share in Japan and TPP11 would put us on a level playing field with Australia,” Ritchie said.

B+LNZ and MIA are highly supportive of the Government’s efforts to continue to liberalize trade and are optimistic given the recent developments in Hanoi.

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