China lifts final trade restrictions on Australian meat processors

CANBERRA/SYDNEY (Reuters) – China has lifted trade restrictions on two Australian meat processing facilities, allowing the full resumption of red meat exports to the country, the Australian government said on Tuesday.

Beijing has now removed restrictions from all 10 Australian abattoirs it banned between 2020 and 2022.

The bans were imposed around the time that China blocked imports of commodities including coal, barley and wine from Australia after Canberra called for an independent investigation into the origin of COVID-19.

Almost all those restrictions have been removed since a new government won power in Canberra in 2022, with trade in lobster, the final banned product, set to restart by year-end.

“This is great news for Australian exporters, producers and farmers,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement.

“Since we were elected we’ve worked tirelessly to resume trade and that’s exactly what we are seeing. It’s a win for trade and a win for Australian jobs.”

China is the second largest market for Australian beef and veal after the United States, receiving around 200,000 metric tons a year worth around $1.5 billion in recent years, Australian trade data show.

Australia was still able to ship beef to China when the abattoirs were banned because other processors were not subject to restrictions.

Australian beef exports have surged this year as the country steps into the gap left by low U.S. production, though most of the increase has been in shipments to the United States and Japan.