Status Update

Grain Trade Australia (GTA) is a member of the Grain and Plant Products Export Industry Consultative Committee (GPPEICC) representing the interests of GTA members.

The GPPEICC is the principal forum for the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) to consult with the grain, fodder, nuts, seed and timber industries on export inspection and certification, export market access and other relevant issues.

The most recent meeting was held on 21 July 2026 and issues of relevance to GTA members are outlined below.

Meeting Outcomes

DAFF Finance and Budget Issues
In March 2026 in recognition of the disruptions being experienced due to the conflict in the Middle East, the government announced a decision to defer revised cost recovery arrangements for export regulatory services until 1 July 2027 by providing an additional $8.2 million in 2026–27. Therefore, the prices presented in the Cost Recovery Implementation Statement (CRIS) for 2026–27 are unchanged from 2025–26 other than a reduction in the tonnage throughput charge for grain and adjustments to how fees are set for third party authorised officers. New prices would commence from 1 July 2027. The objective remains to return to full cost recovery by 2029/30.

Industry was advised by DAFF on 12 June 2026 of the release of the Cost Recovery Implementation Statement for grain and plant products exports for 2026–27. The grain industry remains several million dollars in surplus. GTA will continue to engage with DAFF before 1 July 2027 to ensure industry concerns with cost increases from 2027/28 onwards are fully justified and to raise other issues as outlined in our recent submission on the current CRIS.

Debt from industry is lower than the previous reporting period, however DAFF is initiating debt recovery actions for some industry members.

Strategic and Operational Matters
At the next GPPEICC meeting in October 2026, a strategy session will be held to consider improvements to DAFF regulations, operations and industry efforts to meet DAFF requirements. These regulatory reforms will then be considered over time based on their suitability to add value to DAFF and industry over current arrangements. Industry is encouraged to provide any suggestions to GTA prior to that meeting.

GTA continues discussions with DAFF to improve industry compliance with market requirements where justified changes will reduce the risk of consignments being received that are not compliant with importing country regulations. This includes the recent publishing of a Technical Guideline Document, supported by DAFF, on a Grain Preparation Plan.

DAFF has formed a Taskforce with the APVMA to consider impacts of the impending SafeWork Australia workplace exposure limits for methyl bromide. GTA continues work on this compound and phosphine on behalf of industry and intends to liaise with that DAFF/APVMA Taskforce to ensure industry impacts are considered.

As with previous GPPEICC Market Notifications, there remains areas for industry to improve their provision of export documents to DAFF. A comparison of current versus previous reporting period (in brackets) of document resubmissions by DAFF has determined the following causes:

• RFP details – incomplete/errors – 60% (45%) – significant increase
• Supporting documents – incomplete/errors – 23% (35%) – significant decrease
• Authorised Officer (AO) paperwork – incomplete/errors – 9% (10%)
• Lodgement error – 8% (10%)

As can be seen from those figures, errors detected in the information contained within the both the RFP and the supporting documents continue and industry is encouraged to improve completion of the relevant documents to assist a more rapid and less resource intensive processing.

DAFF have significantly increased the use of unannounced audits as an audit scheduling option. Industry is reminded of their obligations in maintaining their Registered Establishment status as per legislation.

GTA and DAFF have finalised and released the Grain Storage Assets and Management Standard. Communication on this program is about to be released by GTA and DAFF.

Digital Reforms and IT System Issues
The revision of the Micor system to a new DAFF operating platform has been completed.

Following several delays, NEXDOC for the grain sector will be released in October 2026. As advised previously, as all exporters must be registered under the Export Service section to be able to use NEXDOC, industry is encouraged to register with DAFF once advised (expected August) otherwise there is the risk of consignments being delayed. It is also important for industry to discuss the preparedness of their third-party software providers for this change to NEXDOC. Various DAFF communiques to industry outlining the new system changes (e.g., RFP changes to REX) to assist a smooth transition will occur in the weeks prior to its release.

In the interim, enhancements to PEMS continue to reduce the error rate when industry submits export documentation to DAFF.

DAFF continues to discuss implementation of ePhyto with various export markets, albeit at a significantly slower rate than preferred by the grain industry. DAFF will provide their engagement strategy by market to GTA for input prior to the next GPPEICC meeting. Industry advice on key markets to be considered in that engagement is welcomed.

Further information

Contact GTA to seek further information on any of the above issues. Further information on GPPEICC and its membership can be found here.