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Welsh farmers’ leaders hit out at trade deals as imports rise and Welsh lamb prices fall

23 Feb 2023 3 minute read
Sheep grazing. Picture Nation.Cymru

Welsh farmers have hit out at the UK Government’s trade deals with Australia and New Zealand amid rising imports and falling prices for lamb.

According to UK trade figures, there was an increase of 17% in lamb imports during September and November last year, while prime lamb prices have fallen by 90 pence per kilo year on year.

They are now trending below the five-year average despite buoyant markets for lamb during the pandemic.

When trade deals with Australia and New Zealand were announced in December 2021 and February 2022 respectively, farmers warned the terms of the deal would trigger big increases in imports of tariff free beef and lamb.

According to the Farmers Union of Wales, the agreement could result in tariff free beef imports from New Zealand rising to 12,000 tonnes, increasing to 38,820 tonnes in ten years’ time.

Similarly, tariff-free imports in the lamb market would increase by 35,000 tonnes per annum in years one to four, then by 50,000 tonnes per annum in years five to 15, after which there would be no limit.

Further rises would occur in the subsequent five years, after which there would be no limit.

Misleading

FUW president Glyn Roberts said: “Ministers, MPs and Lords who were supportive of the UK Government’s liberal approach to trade negotiations with New Zealand and Australia argued at the time that the Welsh sheep industry should not be concerned as those countries were well below the existing import quota limits and this was unlikely to change.

“We warned then that this was a naïve or deliberately misleading point of view that failed to take account of how global markets, exchange rates and other factors could rapidly change, leading to increases in import volumes that have a negative impact on UK markets.”

“We are now locked into trade deals with New Zealand and Australia that will phase out import limits for key Welsh products altogether, with few safeguards for our own producers.

“These deals are seen as laughably liberal by other countries given the vanishingly small benefits the Government’s own figures show they are likely to bring for the UK economy,” added Mr Roberts.

Undermined

Mr Roberts reiterated the FUW’s longstanding call for the UK Government to revise its policy on international trade and place UK food security and standards at the top of the agenda – particularly given the vulnerability of lengthy supply chains and reliance on imports exposed by the pandemic and Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

“The Government’s own impact analyses make it clear that these deals will see production and prices undermined, with losses of hundreds of millions for the food and farming sector under certain scenarios.

“Such losses would be severely compounded if similarly liberal trade deals are signed with other countries we are currently negotiating with and may seek trade deals with in future,” he added.


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Cathy Jones
Cathy Jones
1 year ago

Are these the same farmers that gave the Leave Campaign loads of free publicity by erecting huge billboards in their fields extolling the virtues of leaving the European Union and thus playing into the Far-Rights and Russia’s hands like a bunch of mugs?

hdavies15
hdavies15
1 year ago
Reply to  Cathy Jones

Take off your blinkers and you’ll find other sectional interests here in Wales selling out our country in a far more damaging way. Global institutions and corporations grabbing land, erecting turbines with huge collateral damage, engaging in carbon offsetting(pure scam that one) and much more to come given our native regime’s lack of willingness to stand up to all the colonisation activity. Sure thing farmers got it wrong but what they got wrong was they picked a bad issue on which to give government a smack on the nose just like the neglected, abandoned working class communities in our derelict… Read more »

Riki
Riki
1 year ago
Reply to  Cathy Jones

Russia? Wow, the level of Anti Russian rhetoric is disgusting. Imagine protecting teens who are on a kill list from another country and being passed off as the bogey man. Are Russia the one with hundreds of Military bases around the world? Are they the ones who travel half the known world to attack countries? Why wasn’t American, Anglo and French sports stars banned from tournaments for the unjust wars in Afghanistan and Iraq? How about you look into the complex history between Russia and Ukraine before demonising an entire nation. You may actually see that they have more legitimacy… Read more »

Last edited 1 year ago by Riki
Gareth
Gareth
1 year ago

A proverb farmers may not like hearing, but quite fitting to this story, “you reap what you sow”

Frank
Frank
1 year ago

Can anyone in Wales afford Welsh lamb? Here we are surrounded by sheep and we can’t even consider buying it. New Zealand lamb travels half way across the globe and is still cheaper. We should be able to enjoy home produce but…….

Riki
Riki
1 year ago
Reply to  Frank

The consequences of The us Taffs accepting our place in this illegal union. We love nothing more than an English boot on our neck.

Rhufawn Jones
Rhufawn Jones
1 year ago
Reply to  Riki

Why the downvote? This is true – since 1282. Or maybe 1536.

Riki
Riki
1 year ago

Yes well, you get what you vote for! And letting foreigners vote in your country also helps that process. The consequences of being too kind, even to the point where you sacrifice your countries future.

CapM
CapM
1 year ago

A few years ago the average age of farmers in Cymru was over 60.
Age played a significant part in how people voted in the EU membership referendum.
Any pro leave support in the farming community can likely be attributed to age more than them being farmers per se.

Any majority of farmers there was for leaving the EU had most likely been overturned by the time Brexit finally happened due to elderly farmers dying and young farmers turning 18. Reflecting the situation across the electorate in general.

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