Australian cattle farmers hoping China welcomes back their beef

After three years of punishing tariffs, China wants Australian barley and are eyeing off our wine. Cattle farmers are hoping their product is next in line for a reprieve.

There are calls for Aussie beef to make a return to the table in China amid signs Beijing is preparing to wind back restrictions on Australian barley and wine.

NSW Farmers head of policy Annabel Johnson said the barley trade developments were great news for the local meat industry. Several Australian abattoirs have been suspended from supplying into China since 2020.

“It’s very positive,” Ms Johnson said. “There’s a clear thawing of the relationship.

“It’s a mutual benefit for Australian farmers and Chinese consumers. We both win when we are trading.”

Australian Meat Industry Council chief executive Patrick Hutchinson, who represents meat processors, said “we need those suspensions lifted.”

Justin Everitt with worker Zara Hogan. His farm may soon carry more barley. Picture: Simon Dallinger

Barley farmers cannot wait for geopolitical tensions to be out of the way so they can grow and sell more of the grain, which China imports mainly to make beer.

NSW Farmers Association grains committee chairman Justin Everitt said he reduced the amount of barley he was growing from a peak of 30 per cent of his total crops to less than 10 per cent because of China’s punishing tariffs, imposed in 2020.

There are now signs the tariffs could be removed within months after a breakthrough in discussions between Canberra and Beijing.

“It’s a great first step,” said Mr Everitt, whose farm is near Howlong in the state’s south. He will now consider dedicating more acreage to barley.

“I am looking forward to the politics being taken out of it,” Mr Everitt said.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong revealed the trade developments on Tuesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire’s Naomi Jellicoe

Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Tuesday said China had agreed to conduct an “expedited review” of its 80 per cent tariff on Australian barley, which has decimated a trade that was worth up to $1.5bn.

A spokesman for Australia’s largest barley exporter CBH said: “This is an important development, and we look forward to the review’s findings and outcome in the coming months.”

Ms Wong signalled that should a resolution be reached on barley, wine would be next. It was hit with tariffs of as much as 218 per cent, also in 2020, as diplomatic relations between the two countries soured.

China was once Australia’s largest wine export destination, with annual sales worth $1.2bn – more than the total of the second and third biggest markets, the US and UK, put together. But tariffs have cut those sales by 99 per cent, said Australian Grape and Wine Inc chief executive Lee McLean.

“It’s been an economic shock for our sector,” he said.

“NSW would love to see a return of the China market.”