Committee publication · Correspondence · 25 March 2026
Correspondence to and from Department of Business and Trade, relating to the Government response to the Farming in Wales report, dated 3 February and 13 March 2026
From: Welsh Affairs Committee
Inquiry: Farming in Wales in 2025: Challenges and Opportunities
Summary
Correspondence between the Welsh Affairs Committee and the Department for Business and Trade regarding the Government's response to the Committee's 2025 farming report. The Committee sought detailed trade data on UK-Australia and UK-New Zealand FTAs' impact on Welsh farmers, citing witness testimony of negative impacts. The Government provided comprehensive 2025 trade statistics, concluding that while imports from Australia and New Zealand have increased, they primarily displace EU imports rather than affecting domestic UK production.
Key findings
- Welsh imports of meat from Australia increased 81.8% (414 tonnes) in 12 months to June 2025, smaller than five other UK regions; New Zealand imports rose 96.9% (155 tonnes), with four regions seeing greater increases.
- New Zealand sheepmeat imports in 2025 (36,600 tonnes, 51.7% of UK total) entered under existing WTO quota, not FTA preferential access, suggesting increases could have occurred without the FTA.
- Australia utilised only 29.3% of beef quota and 45.6% of sheepmeat quota in 2025, indicating quota limits remain unused.
- UK beef production remained at 84-85% of UK market in 2023-2025; total UK beef imports in 2025 were only 0.4% lower than 2022 and 18.3% lower than 2018.
- Deadweight cattle prices in Great Britain rose 79.2% from 2018 (361.2p/kg) to 2025 (647.4p/kg); sheep prices rose 54.3% over the same period.
Tone
ProceduralTopics
Key actors
Ruth Jones MP (Chair, Welsh Affairs Committee), Sir Chris Bryant MP (Minister of State for Trade, Department for Business and Trade), Welsh Affairs Committee, Department for Business and Trade, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)
Notable line
“While imports from Australia and New Zealand have increased since entry into force, overall UK beef import volumes remain broadly stable compared with recent years, with imports from Australia and New Zealand currently appearing to displace those from the EU.”
Key Quotes
“Witnesses, however, told us that imports from Australia and New Zealand permitted under these FTAs, were having negative impacts on the farming sector in Wales.”
“The evidence set out above does not demonstrate a clear link between the UK's FTAs with Australia and New Zealand and impacts on UK or Welsh beef and sheepmeat production to date.”
“In the case of New Zealand sheepmeat, all imports in 2025 continued to enter under the long-standing WTO tariff-rate quota, meaning that observed increases in import volumes could have occurred in the absence of the FTA.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗