021023 Australia Issues Quota Plan For US Beef Exports

Canberra, Australia - Australian Agriculture Minister Warren Truss Friday announced the method that will be used to allocate to beef processors their tariff-free share of beef exports to the U.S. for 2003.

Truss said that after assessing a range of options, an independent quota management panel concluded and he accepted that an "80% U.S./20% global ( including U.S.) model was the most efficient, fair and equitable and the simplest and most transparent to administer."

The quota allocation, which will be tradeable, will be based on an average of shipments in 2001 and 2002, he said.

"In later years, the quota allocation would be allocated on a three-year, rolling average based on previous shipping years," which end Oct. 31, he said in a statement.

Explaining the method, a spokesman for Truss said exporters will be able to export to the U.S. a maximum of 80% of their average shipments to the U.S. in those two years, plus 20% of what they exported globally.

"Combine those two together and that's their total U.S. market allocation," the spokesman said.

The minister said 15,000 tons of tariff-free exports will be set aside as a discretionary provision for exporters.

In announcing the method of quota allocation, Truss said he accepted the advice of the independent quota management panel after the panel had considered various methods of allocating the quota.

The panel found that quota controls on Australian beef exports to the U.S. are likely to be necessary "for at least the next three years," suggesting that exports will reach or exceed that level in that period.

Tariff-free Australian beef exports to the U.S. are limited to 378,214 metric tons a year, beyond which a 26% tariff applies.

The tariff-free limit was breached last year, for the first time since it was introduced in 1994.

Australia is a major global beef exporter and the U.S. is its biggest market, taking mostly low-fat beef for blending with domestic product to make hamburger patties.

The panel said allocating quota is a "difficult and generally contentious issue" and few in the industry, particularly processors and exporters would disagree.

RETURN TO HOME PAGE

E-mail: sflanagan@sprintmail.com