Dairy industry wary of RCEP duty cuts

NEW DELHI: Dairy industry representatives on Wednesday raised their concerns on allowing imports of butter, cheese, and dry and liquid milk from Australia and New Zealand under the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade agreement.

Dairy and fisheries, representatives from Amul, National Dairy Development Board and Visakha, and dairy cooperatives of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Bihar met officials of commerce department and animal husbandry, as the government prepares for the last round of RCEP talks in Vietnam from September 21-27.

“We have requests from Australia and New Zealand to give tariff concessions but industry has sensitivities. They raised their concerns today,” said an official in the know of the development.


India is willing to liberalise the dairy sector with respect to New Zealand and allow a tariff rate quota-based access to skimmed milk powder and whole milk powder. Amul, which contributes about 4% of India’s dairy production, has sought exclusion of all dairy and dairy products from any liberalisation.

Industry leaders had planned to meet commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal after that.

The RCEP discussions have reached their last leg as no more rounds of negotiations are scheduled before the heads of states meet in November where the conclusion of RCEP negotiation is expected to be announced.