Feds Slams Miserly EU Meat And Dairy Quotas

The trade deal with the EU is a slap in the face for New Zealand farmers, Federated Farmers says.

"That the Europeans’ protectionist mindset on livestock products remains entrenched is sadly not a surprise but the very small quotas agreed are considerably worse than we expected," Feds President and trade spokesperson Andrew Hoggard said.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern recently stated that she will come home from the EU without a deal if there isn’t a good one on the table. This is what she should have done.

The beef quota for New Zealand is 10,000 tonnes, just 0.1% of the 6.5m tonnes of beef Europeans consume each year. The EU has a cheese market of 9.5 million tonnes. After seven years New Zealand exporters will have access to just 0.14% of this market.

"It’s just as miserly for our other meat and dairy products," Andrew said.

All the talk of better market access and premiums from New Zealand’s already world-leading low emissions footprint for meat and dairy, and planned world-first agricultural emissions pricing, have proved to be hot air in these negotiations.

"The heavy-handed environmental pain New Zealand farmers are going through is not acknowledged, or even allowed for in the future by this deal," Andrew said.

"Federated Farmers acknowledges the gains made in smaller exporting industries such as honey, fish, kiwifruit, apples and a range of other foods but the verdict on our big two - meat and dairy - is ‘deeply disappointing’. This is a Free Trade Agreement in name only."

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