The Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between Australia and Japan is the most liberalising bilateral trade agreement that Japan has ever concluded. The agreement is said to deliver benefits to Australian farmers. In the agreement the areas of bees, dairy and honey has been included.
Beef:
The tariff on frozen beef will be cut to 19.5 per cent on full implementation. There will be significant front-end loading, with an eight percentage point cut in the first year, two in the second year and one in the third year.
• The tariff on fresh beef will be cut to 23.5 per cent over 15 years. The tariff will be cut by six percentage points in the first year, followed by two annual one percentage point cuts.
• For Australia, Japan’s 50 per cent global snapback tariff will be replaced with a discretionary safeguard.
• Japan’s imports of Australian beef offal, worth $153 million in 2013, will face reduced tariffs within a growing quota.
• JAEPA will reduce tariffs on imports of Australian preserved and prepared beef, worth over $20 million in 2013, under a growing quota.
Dairy:
Under current arrangements, Australia already exports 27,000 tonnes of cheese duty-free under a global quota. Australia has gained a preferential, duty-free Australia-only quota growing to 20,000 tonnes.
• Japan has granted immediate duty-free access for milk products such as protein concentrates and casein, with trade worth $53 million and tariffs of up to 5.4 per cent.
• Opportunities will also open up for ice-cream and frozen yoghurt exports under growing quotas.
Honey:
Australian honey producers will receive an Australia-specific quota that will rise over time, with the tariff eliminated over ten years. Honey is included with the tariff decreasing over 10 years to zero. A quota has been set which increases over 10 years to double the initial quota. This quota is initially set at just below what has been sent to Japan this past year. Any honey over this will attract the current tariff of 22.5%.
Full report can be found here http://dfat.gov.au/fta/jaepa/downloads/jaepa-key-outcomes.pdf
