Australasian Biotechnology,
Volume 6 Number 6, November/December 1996, pp.352-358
Potential threats to trade in agricultural products
Philippa Rowland, Graeme Evans and George McLean,
Code Number: AU96023
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"Environmental issues are already impacting on trade in agriculture.
The impact will intensify over the next five years and generate threats
and opportunities for Australian agricultural exporters." (Oxley,
1995)
Uruguay Round agreements on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures and
Technical Barriers to Trade provide a framework for managing trade in
agricultural commodities and food. Designed to remove non-tariff barriers
to trade, these agreements, together with requirements for the replacement
of agricultural subsidies with tariffs, are widely predicted to provide new
opportunities for Australia to expand exports of agricultural commodities
and food while benefiting from higher returns. Capturing these benefits
will require increasing attention to community perceptions about the safety
of food and demands that commodities are produced in an environmentally
sustainable manner. The Commonwealth Government's initiative to promote
food exports through its Supermarket to Asia policy gives explicit
recognition to the risks of not doing so. It behoves industry, agricultural
scientists and bureaucrats to respond if Australia is to seize
opportunities provided by the Government to access the markets of Asia.
Copyright 1996 Australian Biotechnology Association Ltd.