New quotas for EU cheese under the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) could open access to European cheeses previously unavailable to restaurateurs – albeit indirectly.
Restaurateurs won’t have direct access to quota, large and small distributors will be eligible to apply for it – providing operators with indirect access. Restaurateurs should now be able to buy specialty and artisan European cheeses.
About the new quotas
The quotas will be phased in over the next five years with a total of 17,700,000 kg of tariff-free cheese permitted by 2022. Ninety per cent of the tariff-free cheese can be any type of cheese.
Less than 10% of the allocation is for industrial cheese, which will only be available to processors to manufacture cheese products.
To learn more, read the federal government’s news release.