Australia's biggest customer pressured to give kangaroo products the boot

Australia's biggest export market for kangaroos has the jitters. There is a big push from the Netherlands for the European Union to give Aussie roo products the boot now free trade talks have begun. The EU is our biggest market for kangaroo meat and leather worth about $130 million annually. Traditionally the light and strong kangaroo leather has been highly valued by sporting apparel companies. Kangaroo products are exported to more than 60 overseas markets and is worth about $200 million annually, in an industry employing about 3000 people. Europe is the biggest buyer of Australian product with the US a long way back in second. The EU and Australia are in the early stages of brokering a free trade agreement. Kangaroo's lean meat is prized in restaurants across the world and the strong, supple kangaroo leather is in high demand for sports shoe makers. About two million kangaroos are harvested in Australia each year depending in state quotas, from a total population estimated to ...