Dairy Farmers Hope China Tariff Cuts will Help Trade

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Publish time: 11th January, 2013      Source: ABC Online
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The Chinese government has reduced import tariffs on a range of products, including specialised infant formulas.

The precise details of the tariff reduction are expected to be released to Dairy Australia in the next few days.

Charlie McElhone, manager for trade and industry strategy with Dairy Australia, says while dairy farmers will benefit from the tariff reduction, the key issue is whether it will put Australian exporters on a level playing field with New Zealand, which has a Free Trade Agreement in place with China.

"New Zealand has only about a six percent tariff on many imported dairy powders as opposed to Australia which faces about a 15 per cent taiff, so whether these tariff lines will bring us more into a point of parity remains to be seen, but we are watching that very closely because it is quite a large concern for the Australian industry."