A PANEL on trade in the South East Asia region has heard that free trade agreements remain relevant, even in an increasingly bipolar global environment.
The panel session, part of the Australian Grains Industry Conference, featured Jared Greenville (Department of Agriculture first assistant secretary for trade), Su McCluskey (Australian agriculture trade diversification representative for the National Farmers Federation) and John Southwell, general manager for trade and market access at Grains Australia.
Emcee Rosemary Richards spoke of progress with free trade agreements albeit producers were sometimes still unable to fully utilise FTAs.
Ms Richards noted a 36million tonne gap in the South East Asian’s feed grain market up to 2040, something that was “a bit opportunity for everyone” given appropriate collaboration between the government and private sectors.
She also noted a mood towards “bilateral or transactional trade deals”, probably disrupting the free trade environment that had existed.
Jared Greenville said FTAs were, in fact, “more and more important”, albeit there was a “need to use them differently” and to build upon competitive advantage.
He said countries were looking to relationships and food security as part of their economic security, while at the same time becoming more protectionist.
“That sounds a bit scary, but there is actually quite a lot of opportunity, especially when you consider Australia is a reliable, trusted supplier,” he said.
“We proved that in the current environment and we proved that during COVID-19.”
Su McCluskey agreed FTAs were “absolutely critical” with Australia exporting 70% of its agricultural produce, albeit producers for the domestic market sometimes failed to understand the benefits.
Ms McCluskey noted the benefits of FTAs included market flexibility and being able to pivot at short notice.
“We have seen over the years where markets will close down overnight so diversification [of markets] is really important even if only as a temporary measure,” she said.
She also spoke of Australia’s strengths in terms of quality and safety and the advantage of having South East Asia on our doorstep.
“One of the things about the Middle East conflict and the focus on food security has led us to do is have a real focus on regional security.
“That’s regional security in the context of both food security and national security,” she said.
John Southwell said it was important to be “creative in our approach”, working around tariffs to gain market access, with even growers who were not exporters benefitting from greater feed grain demand.
In the future, he said a greater level of awareness around exports would be important.