The Welsh rural affairs secretary Lesley Griffiths has expressed fears that a free trade deal with New Zealand could damage the UK lamb industry irreparably.
She said that a huge influx of lamb imports’ would absolutely destroy’ the industry.
Phil Stocker, National Sheep Association Chief Executive, said a trade agreement would send a larger amount of sheep meat imports to UK retailers when the market is ‘already suffering.’
“NSA understands that Australia has been trying to increase its EU export quota for many years now, so there is no doubt it would export larger amounts of sheep meat to Europe and the UK given the opportunity,” Mr Stocker said.
“The UK sheep sector is already suffering unacceptably high levels of imports of New Zealand lamb, much of which is sourced by retailers at times of the year when UK product is in plentiful supply.”