EU-Australia trade deal opens 25,000-tonne duty-free sheep meat quota, sparking farmer backlash
The EU-Australia free trade agreement signed on 24 March opens the European market to 25,000 tonnes of duty-free sheep meat. Spain's Interovic warns the deal could erase close to 770,000 hectares of pasture and wants sheep named a sensitive sector, while France's meat interprofession has appealed to Emmanuel Macron.
EU-Australia deal opens duty-free sheep meat access
The European Union's new free trade agreement with Australia, signed on 24 March, opens the bloc's market to 25,000 tonnes of sheep meat free of customs duties, according to French regional reporting. The provision has triggered opposition across Europe's sheep sector, where industry bodies and farmers warn of pressure on prices, pastures and small producers. The accord follows earlier EU trade deals with the Mercosur bloc and India.
Industry bodies demand "sensitive sector" status
In Spain, Interovic, the interprofessional organisation for sheep and goat meat, warned that the agreement could wipe out close to 770,000 hectares of pasture. The body called for sheep farming to be declared a "sensitive sector," a status that would allow tighter management of imports rather than an open duty-free flow. Interovic frames the concern in terms of land use: extensive sheep grazing keeps large areas of marginal pasture in production, and the organisation warns that added import competition could push flocks out of business.
French interprofession appeals to Macron
In France, the interprofessional livestock and meat association called on President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday to take a public position on the draft EU-Australia agreement, and demanded that the sector be excluded from the deal's concessions. The appeal places the sheep meat quota alongside broader French farm-sector unease over successive trade openings, after the Mercosur and India agreements. According to the French reporting, the industry wants the government to defend domestic producers before the agreement advances.
Small producers warn of irreversible losses
The concern is sharpest among small farms. In the Ariège department in southern France, two women farmers running short supply chains sounded the alarm over the deal. "If small farms disappear, we won't be able to turn back," they warned, according to local reporting, arguing that once small-scale sheep operations close they cannot easily be rebuilt.
What it means for trade flows
For importers, the agreement creates a new low-tariff channel for Australian sheep meat into the EU. For European producers and exporters, it adds direct competition on lamb and mutton in an already price-sensitive market. The central open question is whether Brussels grants the sheep sector the "sensitive" designation sought by Interovic, which would determine how tightly the 25,000-tonne quota is managed once the agreement takes effect.
