25 Oct:  The New Zealand meat industry could be hit by fallout from the tense and divisive Brexit negotiations.  It seems that the UK and the EU, in a desperate attempt to reach agreement, are poised to breach World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules over a long-standing agreement NZ has for sheepmeat access to the EU which includes – at this stage – the UK.

The NZ meat industry had become aware that the UK and EU have reached a deal to arbitrarily split the 228,000 quota to the EU, with 45% going to the UK and the rest to Europe. However, the original agreement has been ratified by the WTO and needs the approval of all parties to the agreement and the WTO to make changes.

What has annoyed the the Meat Industry Association and Beef + Lamb NZ is that the UK and EU have seemingly done this deal without consulting NZ, which is illegal under WTO rules.

“Taken at face value this is not a positive sign,” says BLNZ chairman James Parsons. “We want to put our views on the table.”

Continue to the full article on RuralNews  ||  October 25,  2017   |||