The company said this will deliver an historic market access outcome for Australian rice exports.

The final deal confirms the in-principle agreement made in June to completely remove all tariff and quota arrangements for short and medium grain rice varietals from the first day of the FTA coming into effect.

A tariff-free quota of 1000 tonnes will remain for long grain varieties.

According to SunRice, the final agreement is the "most significant market access outcome for rice exports" in any of the recent FTAs the federal government has negotiated.

RELATED | SunRice records earnings recovery despite global supply chain challenges

SunRice Group chief executive officer Rob Gordon said the market access outcome was delivered through a collaborative partnership with the federal government's negotiating team.

"This outcome will deliver significant benefits to our Australian rice growers, who produce some of the highest-quality Japonica-style varieties in the world, and also the citizens of the United Kingdom who will now have greater access to SunRice's loved branded products," he said.

"Unfortunately Australian rice exports have failed to benefit in any meaningful way from previous FTAs the Commonwealth Government has signed, but this deal represents a significant advancement.

READ MORE

"We look forward to continuing to work with the Australian government to build on the liberalisation that has been achieved in this deal, to hopefully also secure increased access to other key markets where we are currently negotiating FTAs."

Mr Gordon was looking forward to seeing the outcomes of the FTA with the UK throughout the year ahead.

"Our rice industry is the poster child of Australian agriculture - producing premium clean and green rice, and then processing that in SunRice's regional facilities into value-added and premium branded products which are exported worldwide," he said.

"This deal is a fantastic result for the Governments of Australia and the United Kingdom and we congratulate the Minister for Trade Dan Tehan and the negotiating team from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for securing such an historic agreement."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: