Search for new markets to fill China gap pays off with record trade result, SA government says

An effort to find new markets to fill the hole left by trade tensions with China has led SA to a best-ever result, the government says.

South Australia has recorded its best-ever trade result for any 12-month period, exporting $13bn worth of goods to July 31, the state government says.

Part of the success has been the capacity to find other markets for goods amid the ongoing trade dispute with China.

Australian Bureau of Statistics trade data shows in July alone, SA’s exports to Japan were worth $161m on the back of roaring tuna trade.

Trade And Investment Minister Stephen Patterson. Picture: Kelly Barnes

It was the best July result ever recorded for exports to Japan and the single best month since August 2013, helping to offset loss of trade with China. Another bumper month is expected to be recorded for August, again driven by tuna that is mostly shipped to Japan frozen in the winter months.

The value of exports to China in the month of July was $147m, the lowest July result since 2009.

Trade Minister Stephen Patterson said the export revenue for the 12-months to the end of July was a rise of 19 per cent on the previous corresponding period.

“(The figures are) a credit to South Australian exporters who are growing their businesses, creating jobs and accelerating the growth of the South Australian economy,” Mr Patterson said.

The state’s overall trade growth has been driven by wheat, barley and minerals.

Nationally, the value of goods exported was up 9.1 per cent for the 12 months to the end of July.

SA’s rise was second only to WA at 27 per cent.

SA is working to turn the tide on China’s brutal trade tariffs by strengthening relations with Japan.

Wine exports have ­plummeted due to China’s crippling tariffs of up to 212 per cent that were introduced last November. In May, Japan’s top diplomat in Australia, Shingo Yamagami, urged South Australian winemakers to diversity into his home market.

At the time Mr Yamagami revealed Japan had a ­“growing demand” for SA wine.

GFWAM – Ranching tuna is a classic example of Aussie ingenuity which kicked off in Port Lincoln

On Thursday, he said: “This (trade) trend is very encouraging as it demonstrates South Australian exporters are diversifying their export destinations.”

Pooraka-based business Healthy Garden Australia recently loaded its first shipment of SA plain oats bound for Japanese convenience stores as well as South Korea.

“The (Trade) Department was able to support them with a much more strategic and diversified approach to their export strategy that has helped them enter these new markets,” Mr Patterson said.

He said the state’s trade representatives across the world continued to connect SA companies with buyers and distributors, which was crucial given companies could not travel to do business in person due to Covid-19.