After Mercosur's entry into force, the signing of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Australia represents another turn of the screw for the economies of European agricultural producers. "This new agreement is inseparable from the complex market context affecting European agriculture," explains the COPA-Cogeca statement (an organization that brings together all agricultural organizations and agri-food cooperatives in the European Union), alluding to the problems of increased production costs due to the war in Iran and continuous inflationary pressures, among others.
Once again, the European agricultural sector denounces being a bargaining chip to achieve broader commercial and political objectives.
In this regard, COPA-Cogeca denounces "the absence of a comprehensive approach to manage the cumulative impact of these agreements" and for this reason they question whether the trade policy that the European Union is developing is sustainable and coherent. "European farmers cannot continue to bear the cost of bilateral trade liberalization without adequate and truly effective safeguards," argues the organization.
What sectors are the most affected?
In principle, it is ovine, followed by bovine and dairy products, sugar (beet, which is already very limited in the European Union) and rice.
According to the European Commission, the agreed quantities represent 4% of the current consumption of sheep and goat meat in Europe, 0.5% of that of beef.
- Sheep and goat: the type of imported meat will be "grass-fed" and there will be two types of tariff quotas: 25,000 tons will be imported duty-free and it will be implemented that 27% will be frozen meat and the rest fresh or chilled.
- Beef cattle: there will also be two tariff quotas: 30,600 tons duty-free and 13,770 with a 7.5% tariff.
- Dairy products: 8,0000 tons of skimmed milk powder, 5,000 tons of butter and 2,000 tons of whey protein concentrates will be admitted
- Rice: the tariff quota will be set for 8,500 tons of rice.
Rejection from Spain
From Spain, the agrarian organizations ASAJA and COAG have already shown their rejection of the trade agreement signed with Australia, and from the first requesting that European parliamentarians vote against it.
“The European Commission has closed this negotiation in an accelerated and opaque manner, without having completed a rigorous sectoral impact assessment, without transparency on the agreed quota volumes and without having listened to the repeated warnings of European agricultural organizations. COAG recalls that the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture, concluded in September 2024, explicitly demanded a profound reform of the common agricultural trade policy. That recommendation has been completely ignored,” underlined the General Secretary of COAG, Miguel Padilla.
For its part, from ASAJA they state that "we support international trade, but always under conditions of reciprocity and leaving out those strategic sectors, something that in this case has not happened.”
Spain is one of the main producers of sheep livestock in the European Union, whose flock, in recent years, shows a clear downward trend. Thus, the livestock farmers who will be most affected are those from Castilla La Mancha, Castilla León, Extremadura, and Aragón.
As for beef cattle, it must be taken into account that it's raining on wet ground, since to Australia's quotas must be added those that will enter from the countries of Mercosur from May 1, 2026.
The European Union is not a major producer of sugar or rice, (crops for which decades ago preference was given to those from Least Developed Countries), but the rice-growing area has notably decreased in Spain in recent years and that of sugar beet remains in Castilla y León.
“If this agreement is applied as is, farms will close. And farms that close do not reopen. And villages that are left without livestock farmers do not fill up again. And the food sovereignty that is lost is not recovered with a speech in Brussels,” added the general secretary of COAG, Miguel Padilla.