Australia has won significant tariff reductions for farm commodities in a free trade deal agreed with South Korea.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced to the House of Representatives on Thursday that Australia and South Korea have concluded their free trade agreement (FTA) talks after four years of often stalled negotiations.

The deal, which still needs to be approved by Cabinet, will increase Australian exports to Korea by 73 per cent over the coming 15 years, the Federal Government says.

South Korea is already Australia's fourth-largest trading partner, with trade between the two nations worth $32 billion in 2012.

The agreement cuts tariffs, either immediately or over time, on a huge range of agricultural commodities, including wheat and sugar, dairy, wine, horticulture and seafood, though rice misses out.

Australian's beef industry has been particularly keen to secure a South Korean FTA. That country is Australia's third-largest export market for beef, but has already started reducing tariffs on beef from the United States under a free trade agreement with that country.

Tariffs on Australian beef will be reduced to zero over 15 years under this agreement, the same deal offered to the US.

Rice is the only significant Australian agricultural commodity to miss out on a tariff reduction under this agreement, leaving the rice industry fuming.

Executive director of Rice Growers Australia, Ruth Wade wants the Federal Government to make amends, saying the deal is 'free trade' in name only.

"A free trade agreement has been struck and yet not all products are included.

"We're extremely disappointed rice has been excluded."

The rice industry wants greater consideration in ongoing negotiations for FTAs with China and Japan after being left out of the Korea deal.

"We are now saying to our government, we got traded off, out of this agreement," Ms Wade said.

"Please now, as a matter of urgency, address the issues of protocols which would give us access immediately to the Chinese market."

The Australian dairy industry is still going through the detail of the FTA with South Korea, which is a large and growing market for the world's dairy products.

Last year it imported 196,000 tonnes of dairy, of which Australian products only accounted for 9 per cent.

Noel Campbell, president of Australian Dairy Farmers, says not all products are included in the deal.

"Powders are excluded, which is probably to be expected."

Cheese, butter and infant formulas are in the deal, with varying timelines for tariff removal.

"There is no doubt the words 'Free Trade Agreement' are probably a bit loosely used, but there are some positive steps."

Under the South Korea deal, tariffs will also be phased out on Australian resources, energy and manufactured goods, including car parts.

But the struggling Australian car industry will also face increased competition, with imports of Korean motor vehicles and automotive parts seeing tariffs reductions.

There will be changes to requirements for Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) scrutiny under the deal. Currently, the FIRB must scrutinise all transactions worth more than $240 million, but that will increase to $1 billion under this agreement.

However, the threshold for scrutiny of foreign investment in Australian agricultural land and agribusiness will be significantly lowered, to $15 million for land and $53 million for agribusiness.

The Trade Minister Andrew Robb says that's in line with the Coalition's election commitment to tighten scrutiny of foreign investment in Australian agriculture.

Significantly, Australia has also given ground on the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions in the agreement. Under Labor, the Australian Government refused to sign up to an agreement that included the provisions, that would allow investors to take legal action against the Australian Government, if it was deemed to have taken action that discriminates against those investors.

However, the provisions are included in the Australia-South Korea agreement.

Trade Minister Robb says the deal with South Korea protects Australia's right to regulate for public health, environment and welfare matters, so they cannot be challenged.

"But for normal, commercial arrangements, we think that it's not unreasonable, and it will give protection to Australian investors in Korea if there was to be something that was contradicting or in breach of the contract that we've signed."

The foreign investment and ISDS elements of the agreement are significant, in that both areas have also proved sticking points in Australia's free trade negotiations with China and Japan.

As well as the agreement with Korea, the Prime Minister Tony Abbott promised to complete deals with Japan and China within 12 months, when he was elected in September.