7 February 2012

2 minute read

Oceania

Over the past week, the delegation visited Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey to return confident that significant progress has been made in regards to animal welfare issues.

WAFarmers Meat Section President, Jeff Murray, said the delegation helped importers develop a much better understanding of new arrangements for cattle and sheep exports.

“All parties including the Federal Government, producers, exporters and importers are committed to improving animal welfare by implementing the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System (ESCAS),” Mr Murray said.

CCA Chairman Andrew Ogilvie believes that the delegation was successful in assisting importing countries gain a better understanding of the Exporters Supply Chain Assurance System (ESCAS) being applied across all supply chains processing Australian livestock.

“The CCA stands committed to working with Government and industry in assuring the welfare of Australian livestock while maintaining a sustainable live export industry. ESCAS will ensure that outcome,” Mr Ogilvie said.

Implementation of the ESCAS framework will provide the industry with a long term future. This will also mean Australian livestock will continue to play an important part in meeting the food security needs of the countries of the region.

ESCAS will allow tranche 1 markets to continue to trade beyond 1 March. There will be ongoing work to resolve some outstanding issues – mostly around contractual matters and auditing – but these are not insurmountable.

Industry is also working to meet the needs of tranche 2 and 3 markets. These markets have significant potential for the Australian livestock trade. Exporters understand that there will be supply chains that will not process Australian livestock because they do not meet the requirements of ESCAS.

Australian efforts over a number of years in our Middle East markets have led to welcome improvements in animal welfare.

TheCattleSite News Desk