National Farmers Union

WASHINGTON (March 30, 2004) – In testimony before the U.S. International Trade Commission March 30, California Farmers Union President and family dairy producer Joaquin Contente outlined the likely ramifications of the U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement for U.S. farmers and ranchers.

“National Farmers Union fails to see how the U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement provides any meaningful export sales or economic opportunities for American farmers and ranchers,” Contente said. “However, it does pose a substantial competitive threat to a number of domestic agricultural production sectors.

“As a relatively small and mature agricultural market in terms of population growth and personal incomes, Australia offers limited potential for expanding demand for U.S. agricultural products,” Contente said. “Because of Australia’s geographic location, many other importers into that country have a substantial competitive transportation advantage over U.S. farm exports.”

He also pointed out that, during the last 10 years, Australian agricultural exports into the United States have more than doubled, and, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 98 percent of these commodities directly compete with U.S. production and exports. On the other hand, U.S. agricultural exports to Australia have risen by only 50 percent. The U.S. agricultural trade deficit with Australia has grown from $577 million in 1994 to more than $1.5 billion for calendar year 2003.

Contente specifically discussed the potential threats to the U.S. wheat, beef and dairy production industry. When it comes to dairy, he said he expected imports of casein, milk protein concentrates (MPC) and other dairy products from Australia to skyrocket.

In the case of casein and MPC, the United States imported about $500 million worth of these products in 2003. Nearly 12 percent of this amount originated from Australia and represented about two-thirds of their total dairy exports to the United States. Nothing in the trade agreement would limit or safeguard the U.S. against expanded imports of these products in the future.

Contente is joined by 45 dairy farmers from across the nation in Washington this week to recruit cosponsors for legislation to close the trade loopholes that are allowing MPC and casein to flood into the country. The Milk Import Tariff Equity Act (S.560 and H.R. 1160) would limit these imports by imposing effective tariffs.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 30th, 2004 at 9:58 am and is filed under Miscellaneous, Trade. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.