The signing of the China Australia Free Trade Agreement in Canberra today marks a very significant milestone for Tasmania that will help to grow the economy and create jobs.
This historic agreement will unlock further opportunities for our primary producers by ensuring our products are competitive in China, our state’s largest trading partner.
China presents an enormous wealth of opportunity for Tasmania as it grows an increasing appetite for our fresh, clean and safe food, particularly in its emerging middle income demographic.
For too long our premium export products including dairy, beef and seafood have been disadvantaged by significant tariffs, while our greatest competitors including New Zealand and Chile have been trading under FTAs since 2008 and 2006 respectively.
The wool industry will also benefit from an Australia-only duty free quota and access to China’s WTO wool quota.
A key outcome for the sector is an exclusive Country Specific Quota of 30,000 tonnes of clean wool that will grow by five per cent each year until 2024.
The Hodgman Liberal Government is committed to building on our competitive strengths, including agriculture, to keep the momentum in the economy and create jobs on farms and in regional towns.
We are rolling out our plan to grow the value of the agricultural sector in Tasmania ten-fold to $10 billion per year by 2050.
Today’s agreement creates huge opportunity for Tasmanian farmers to increase exports between Tasmania and China, and includes:
• Removing tariffs of up to 20 per cent from dairy products within four to 11 years;
• Removing tariffs of up to12-25 per cent on beef within nine years;
• Removing tariffs on sheep-meat of up to 23 per cent within eight years;
• Removing tariffs on wine of up to 20 per cent within four years;
• Removing tariffs on horticulture products like apples, cherries and vegetables of up to 30 per cent within four years;
• Removing tariffs on seafood of up to 15 per cent within four years; and
• Removing tariffs on Hides, Skins and Leathers of up to 14 per cent within two to seven years.
Jeremy Rockliff, Minister for Primary Industries and Water
