A CLOUD of uncertainty is hanging over the heads of local farmers following the announcement of hefty tariffs on barley imported into China.
The Australian export market is expected to lose hundreds of millions of dollars after China, last week imposed two tariffs – 73.6 per cent and 6.9 per cent – on the import of Australian barley.
Freeling’s Corbin Schuster said the move will also have ramifications for growers, such as himself, who sell domestically, with a sudden influx of barley into the local market expected to drop prices.
About 15 per cent of Mr Schuster’s farm, or 350 hectares, has been sown with barley over the past few weeks.
“Western Australia is the biggest single producer of export barley for China… and will be producing a fair amount of barley which would have been exported that now can’t be because it is not cost competitive with the tariffs on top of it once it gets over to China,” he said.
“So all that barley is going to be sitting there and if it comes over the border into the eastern states which it could possibly, that will reduce the price over here.”
Mr Schuster said farmers in the Lower North, such as in and around the Freeling and Gawler areas, are fortunate to have several options for where their produce ends up, with three large feed mills close by.
Even so, he said other farmers have cautiously chosen to reduce their plantings of barley.
“There was a bit of a murmuring around the Freeling district that there had been a reduction in planting but for us we’ve got quite a few options for where our barley will end up and we also have a lot of on farm storage as well,” he said.
“So we will go ahead and harvest the barley and stick it in the big silos we’ve got and I guess just sit on it until somebody wants it or the price goes up.”
Local farmers are likely to harvest their barley in mid to late-November, with many completing their sowing early due to recent near-perfect weather conditions.
Last season saw the Lower North produce 59,000 tonne of barley from 22,000 hectares.
Caught in a global feud
IN introducing its tariffs, the Chinese Government has accused Australian farmers of “dumping” their barley into China for cheaper than it costs to grow, at an unfair advantage to their domestic growers.
China has also claimed Australian farms are receiving subsidies from the Australian Government to grow their crops.
Both claims are denied by the Australian Government.
The Australian Government has also denied the tariffs are linked to its call for an international inquiry into the origins of COVID-19.