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The Australian Government has confirmed that three meat processing facilities have lost permission to export to Malaysia, after that country issued a temporary ban.
In August, the Malaysian Department of Veterinary Services suspended imports from three “establishments”, including Thomas Food International (TFI).
TFI declined to be interviewed by the ABC.
It is unclear which other establishments were caught up in the suspension, which an Australian Department of Agriculture spokesperson said was “related to a review audit in conducted in May”.
The affected companies do not yet know what that issue is, according to Australian Meat Industry Council chief executive Patrick Hutchinson.
“This was as a result of auditing that’s occurred at those three establishments. At this stage, all we know is that these critical incident reports have been raised [with companies by Malaysian authorities],” he said.
Mr Hutchinson said livestock producers were unlikely to feel the impact of the suspension, because Malaysia remained a small market for Australia.
“Whilst a very valuable market and a very valued trading partner, the quantity of beef product being sent there is not of a size that we see going to the US, Korea, Japan or China.
“At this stage the impact across the board, whilst of a substantial nature with regards to relationships and orders for those companies involved, in regards to volume it’s on the lower scale.
“Producers probably wouldn’t even know that it would be occurring.”
In a statement, the Agriculture Department spokesperson would not address specific questions about the companies affected or measures being taken to resume trade, but said it was “not uncommon in international trade for establishments to be suspended or lose listing on occasion due to non-compliances or changes in arrangements in overseas markets”.
It is the second suspension for TFI in three months.
In late July, one of the company’s plants was among six abattoirs which lost permission to export beef to China over labelling concerns.
Australia’s largest meat processor JBS, together with TFI, Kilcoy Pastoral, Australian Country Choice, the Northern Rivers Co-operative are still waiting to resume trade from their affected abattoirs.
Trade Minister Steven Ciobo discussed the issue with his China counterpart at a recent high-level bilateral meeting, the Joint Ministerial Economic Commission.
In a statement, Mr Ciobo said China “noted they were appreciative of the report from the Australian Government [into labelling issues leading to the suspension] and they were working through it”.
“Although it wasn’t resolved during this trip, China indicated that they hoped to be able to resolve this soon,” the Minister said.
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