Australian exporters to make substantial gains in the UK thanks to new FTA

The Australia-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement (A-UKFTA) was signed on 17 December and is expected to enter into force in the course of 2022.

This ambitious agreement will help Australian goods and services exporters to diversify and grow their UK market share and make it easier to attract investment in Australia. It will also enhance provisions for workers in both countries to live and work temporarily and support the mutual recognition of professional qualifications.

Listen to a high-level briefing on the key sectoral outcomes by Austrade’s Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner in the UK and Australia’s Chief FTA Negotiator, for more detailed information: https://youtu.be/Kj1y60Pkf4I

Over 99% of tariffs eliminated on Australian goods exports

Tariffs on over 99% of Australian goods exports to the UK (by value) will be eliminated on entry into force. The agreement also opens up opportunities with strong outcomes across key export sectors such as beef, sheep meat, wine, dairy, rice, and sugar. Tariffs on honey, olive oil and most processed foods will be eliminated on entry into force.

Tariffs on Australian wine, Australia’s largest dutiable export to the UK by value, will be eliminated on entry into force, removing customs duties worth around $43m each year.

Beef tariffs will be eliminated after 10 years with immediate access to a duty-free transitional quota of 35,000 tonnes rising to 110,000 tonnes in year 10.

Sheep meat tariffs will be eliminated after 10 years, with immediate access to transitional duty-free quota of 25,000 tonnes rising to 75,000 tonnes in year 10.

Sugar tariffs will be eliminated over 8 years with immediate access to transitional duty-free quotas of 80,000 tonnes rising to 220,000 tonnes in year 8.

Tariffs on dairy will be eliminated over 5 years with immediate access to duty free transitional quotas for cheese (24,000 tonnes rising to 48,000 tonnes), butter (5,500 tonnes rising to 11,500 tonnes) and other dairy products (20,000 tonnes per annum).

Tariffs on most seafood exports will be eliminated on entry into force, including all finfish and fresh and frozen rock lobster. The remaining tariffs will be eliminated over 3 years.

Tariffs on most fruits and vegetables will be immediately eliminated, including almonds, macadamia, other nuts, avocados, cherries (excluding sour cherries), dried fruits, citrus fruits, carrots and table grapes. Tariffs on apricots, nectarines, peaches, strawberries, asparagus, beans, tomatoes, apples (excl cider apples) and pears (excluding perry pears) will be eliminated over 3 years. Remaining product tariffs will be eliminated over 7 years.

For other products, tariffs will be removed on short and medium-grain milled rice and there will be a permanent annual duty-free quota of 1,000 tonnes for long-grain milled rice. Tariffs on broken rice will be removed over 4 years with an immediate duty-free transitional quota of 11,500 tonnes per year.