Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee, , 1:42:18 to 1:47:58
Review of China's decision to impose a 55% tariff on beef exports exceeding a specific quota and the Australian government's diplomatic response to the safeguard measure.
Topics: China trade, Beef exports
Speakers: Speaker 5, Speaker 19, Speaker 14, Speaker 22, Tina Hutcherson, Ms. Tina Hutcherson, Speaker 18
>> Uh thank you. Um look, I might just start on um uh Chinese uh decision to impose a 55% tariff on beef exports uh uh exceeding a a quarter of 205,000 tons. Uh when was the government made aware of this decision of the Chinese government?
>> So Senator, I'm advised that um we were made aware the day before it occurred, which would be the 30th of December.
>> 31st of December. >> Okay. 31st of December, News Eve. Um that was before it was reported, was it?
You you >> before it was reported in the newspapers, did you say?
>> Yeah. Did you >> uh Senator, it hit about the same time?
>> About the same time. You were told by the Chinese government, Chinese government officials or
>> uh the uh >> how did you find out? >> The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade who takes the lead on this can provide more information on this um but it hit around the same time. Yes, they were informed by Chinese government officials, but I will let um the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade take the lead on the mechanics of how
they're expressly told. Okay. Um, is this decision uh consistent with the free trade agreement we have with China?
>> Uh, Senator, um, uh, I think the government has been quite quite forward-leaning in saying that, uh, they're very disappointed by the decision. Um, and but ultimately about what the, uh, compliance or otherwise with the free trade agreement, uh, that would be a matter for the foreign department of foreign affairs and trade. Um but obviously the minister uh and the trade minister have been very vocal uh about being disappointed by this
decision. >> So in terms of the forwardleaning actions um as the minister for agriculture communicated with her counterpart in China about the decision.
>> Uh Senator um there are two things I'd like to say here. uh the minister the minister of commerce in China uh is the is the lead um on um on this and there was a uh a virtual engagement a couple of weeks ago um with the commerce minister and there was also a letter that was uh sent I believe yesterday um to the Chinese uh government the Chinese commerce minister uh from both minister Farrell and minister Collins
>> and that's about this particular
decision that letter >> that is about this particular decision And I can confirm that the uh virtual engagement with the Chinese commerce minister occurred on the 14th of January.
>> Okay. Okay. Um uh h how long is this potentially in place for? Has has the Chinese government indicated a time frame?
>> Uh the Chinese government has indicated 3 years for this safeguard measure.
>> Right. Okay. Um is there did they did the Chinese government do an assessment of the the need for this safeguard me measure before implementing it?
>> Uh the Chinese government undertook an investigation um leading to this safeguard measure. Uh but I'll let the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade speak to the specifics of that investigation. uh and obviously the Australian government as well as several industry bodies being large exporters of beef to China uh took part in that investigation in terms of providing submission and additional information.
>> What is our uh volume of beef exports to China or was it last calendar year or for the last 12 month period you've got
>> uh Senator I'd actually have to uh look at my database for that. Um I believe it was somewhat in excess of about 300,000
tons >> around that. Someone surely cuz Abears does Abears do this stuff or someone's got a precise figure. Beef's pretty big export. So but we've got about 300,000
tons. >> Uh Senator, I'm happy to look it up. It
would just take me a couple minutes. >> We got someone might be coming forward. Mr. Campbell might be able to help.
senators. Joe Granville, executive director of Ray Bears. Um bit like Mr. Campbell. I'll just quickly look it up. If you do, we do have a a publicly available dashboard um which contains all the data. So let's see.
Um
so so for financial year 2425 full financial year it's about $2.8 billion worth trade. Um
>> I suppose I'm interested in the tons given the metric there for the quota. >> Maybe you keep looking at that. Yep.
Sorry. >> Senator Tom Black for assistant secretary exports and veterary services division. So Mr. Granville indicated um about 2.8 uh billion dollars worth in value. Um I've got that equating to around 270 uh,000 tons. >> All right. It's a little bit over quoted, >> but that's for the that's for the financial year 24 25, not the I guess the calendar year 25. So,
>> it's for 12 months. >> Yes. >> So, yep, good um um estimate. Okay. Um so, uh how's how's the quota going to work in practice? Uh uh is it just first in best rest and then after we hit 200,000 uh 205,000? Sorry. Um the quot the