Australian Government Urges Japan Not to Raise its Beef Tariff

Australia's Trade Minister Mark Vaile, and new Agriculture Minister Peter McGauran, expressed concern today that the Japanese Government could soon raise its beef tariffs in response to rising imports.

Japan has in place an automatic mechanism, the so-called 'snapback' tariff, that comes into play when imports reach a pre-determined level.

Mr Vaile and previous Agriculture Minister Warren Truss, recently wrote to the Japanese Government urging it not to raise beef tariffs in the event of its 'snapback' mechanism being triggered.

Mr Vaile said that May 2005 import figures released recently by the Japanese Ministry of Finance point to a strong possibility the beef snapback tariff would be triggered for both chilled and frozen beef products in the April-June quarter.

"That would mean an increase in Japan's beef tariff from 38.5 per cent to 50 per cent from early August," he said.

The Ministers told their Japanese counterparts Australian beef producers had worked hard to meet requests from Japanese officials and clients to send more beef to that country following the suspension of imports from the United States in late 2003.

"With this in mind, the Australian Government believes it would benefit both our countries if Japan waived its safeguard measures and held the tariff on chilled and frozen beef at 38.5 per cent, regardless of whether the trigger is reached," Agriculture Minister Peter McGauran said.

"The recent increase in imports simply reflects the market recovering from the disruption caused by the discovery of BSE in the United States in 2003.

"That discovery resulted in Japan banning US beef imports; a move that saw Australian producers step into the breach and provide Japan with significant extra amounts of high-quality beef products to meet the demand from its consumers."

The Ministers said, however, that the initial supply constraints meant a slump in Japan's total imports last year was almost inevitable, creating the conditions for the safeguard mechanism to be triggered as supply ramped up in 2005.

"The Australian Government will work closely with our beef industry to ensure we achieve a coordinated approach to this issue and the best possible outcome for both countries," they said.

Media inquiries:

Contacts:
Mr Vaile's office: Richard Forbes (02) 6277 7420
Mr McGauran's office: Gemma Allman (02) 6277 7520