A much-anticipated trade deal with the European Union remains in limbo, with Agriculture Minister Murray Watt insisting Australia will abandon negotiations unless the EU abandons a stance that is “just not good enough”.

While trade and agriculture ministers remain determined to reach an agreement, the Albanese government has said it will walk away if a deal cannot be reached that’s in Australia’s best interests.

“We think that there are real benefits for both Australia and the EU,” Mr Watt told ABC News on Sunday.

“But we do need to see the EU offer to Australia in terms of agricultural inputs to be much higher than what they’ve got on the table at the moment.”

Mr Watt said Australia was not asking for anything unreasonable and its demands aligned with agreements brokered between the EU and other countries.

“But unfortunately, the EU hasn’t been prepared to come to the party at the moment,” he said.

The minister had been meeting with EU officials ahead of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation conference in Rome.

Five years and counting

The federal government has been working on a free trade agreement with the EU for around five years that would give Australian producers greater access to a market of more than 450 million people.

But negotiations have broken down over the conditions attached to a range of agricultural commodities, including beef, sheep, sugar and dairy products.

The agriculture minister said the latest round of meetings had allowed the government to reiterate its position.

“A lot of the European agriculture ministers were of the view that the deal was nearly done and that Australia was quite happy with what was being offered,” he said.

“So it’s obviously been very useful to make clear that that’s not the case.”

-AAP