FARMER lobby group GrainGrowers has heaped the pressure on the Federal Government to officially ratify the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA) as soon as possible.
Speaking at the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties Inquiry recently GrainGrowers general manager of policy and research Luke Mathews said the deal would be a boon for Australian grain producers, giving preferential access into our largest export wheat market.
"Trade agreements such as IA-CEPA are very important in improving export opportunities for the Australian grain sector," Mr Mathews said.
IA-CEPA was signed by Australian and Indonesian leaders in March 2019 and now must be ratified by Australian Parliament before coming into effect.
A key benefit of the deal for the grains industry is a new quota of 500,000 tonnes of Australian feed grain which will not be subject to duties, with the feed grain market a big growth sector in Indonesia, with GrainGrowers saying it is growing by 5 per cent per annum.
Mr Mathews also highlighted that as part of IA-CEPA the two nations will develop a grains-specific economic cooperation initiative, the Australia-Indonesia Grains Partnership, which will look to develop the technical, economic and social programs to see the grains sector flourish in both nations.
The numbers regarding wheat sales to Indonesia are compelling.
Indonesia is Australia's largest wheat market with annual trade volumes typically around 4.2 million tonnes, valued at around $1.3 billion, although this figure has been lower in the last couple of years as the east coast drought impacts production volumes.
Meanwhile, IA-CEPA was not the only trade deal in the news this week.
At the G7 conference in Biarritz, France, the US and Japan announced an in-principle trade agreement.
US farm lobby group US Wheat Associates hailed the news as a boost to US wheat farmers looking to export into the lucrative Japanese market.
Previously, the US had been at a disadvantage due to its major exporting rivals in Canada and Australia being part of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) along with Japan.