The Free Trade Agreement with Japan will provide a boost for Australia's food and grocery exporters according to the Australian Food and Grocery Council.
The agreement ends seven years of negotiation with Japan, and brings significant gains for agriculture and processed food exports, the AFGC says.
"Australia is the first developed nation to secure an FTA with Japan so instead of playing catch-up with our competitors, we are leading the way,” said AFGC CEO Gary Dawson.
Some sectors did better out of the agreement than others, however. The Australian dairy industry said it stood to gain little from the FTA, while the beef industry says it will significantly lift sales in coming years.
Dawson said it had been a difficult negotiation because of Japan's resistance to opening its market in key agricultural products, with any gain in these sensitive areas hard fought.
"No party ever gets everything they want from trade negotiations and this FTA is no different, with modest gains for some of Australia's key commodities.
"However, failure to finalise a deal would mean Australia faced losing market share to competitor countries in a key market."
He said that Japan has been Australia's largest export market for processed food and beverage products, worth $3.1 billion in 2012-13.
"This agreement will accelerate the growth of Australian food exports into Japan to meet growing demand from Japanese consumers who value Australia's high quality food production.
"Improved market access into high value markets like Japan is vital for the future of Australia's food and grocery sector. The benefits will flow to a broad range of Australian food and grocery manufacturing companies, large and small,” Dawson said.
The Australian beef industry says the Free Trade Agreement with Japan will significantly lift sales in coming years, while the dairy industry said it stood to gain little.
