The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) has the potential to “boost dairy exports in future and benefit farmers in the supply chain”.
This is according to senior analyst at the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), Soumya Behera, who said that the free trade deal will open the UK up to around 500 million new consumers.
The trade deal will see increased UK trade access to 11 nations:
- Canada;
- Mexico;
- Peru;
- Chile;
- New Zealand;
- Australia;
- Brunei;
- Singapore;
- Malaysia;
- Vietnam;
- Japan.
AHDB has commissioned a quantitative impact assessment of how the UK’s accession to CPTPP could benefit the dairy sector in particular, and said that the results will be published later this month.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced on March 31 of this year that the UK would be joining the CPTPP after two years of negotiations.
Dairy exports
AHDB said that it will explore the current situation of UK dairy exports and how they will be impacted by the CPTPP in conjunction with Harper Adams University.
Behera said population growth and economic development of the countries in the CPTPP will be the “main drivers” for long-term opportunities in these markets.
The expansion of the middle-class in the Asian and South American markets will also be a key factor to watch for in the medium to long term, she said.
“Going forward with more countries like China, Taiwan, Ecuador, Costa Rica and Uruguay joining the CPTPP, it is likely to open up the gates for long-term opportunities in the dairy sector,” she said.
“This will be subject to other factors like global and economic scenario, climatic conditions in the major producing regions, margins and input costs.
“Time will help to quantify how exactly the CPTPP deal will influence trade flow in the coming days.”
