Coalition champions Australian avocado China tilt as diversification downgraded ahead of federal election
The Coalition’s lobbying of the government for increased China access for Beijing-exposed trade is a striking departure from the diversification policy championed by Scott Morrison and comes as an election looms.
The Coalition is urging the Albanese government to do more to get China market access for Australian farmers as the opposition downplays its Morrison-era policy of diversifying Beijing-exposed trade ahead of the federal election.
In the final parliamentary sitting week of the year, the Coalition emerged as the unlikely champion of the Australian avocado sector as it lobbies the federal government to help it secure access to the lucrative Chinese market.
The high-level advocacy in Canberra comes after Australian avocado sellers signed a $300m deal with Chinese buyer Shanghai Huizhan Fruit Markets, which senior figures in the industry said could transform their export business.
Opposition trade and tourism spokesman Kevin Hogan confirmed that he had written to Trade Minister Don Farrell and Agriculture Minister Julie Collins last week to urge them to “prioritise” the entry of avocados to China.
“I strongly hope that the government sees the value in expediting Australian avocados’ access into Chinese markets,” Mr Hogan told The Australian.
“They have done the hard yards,” he said of the avocado industry, noting its “fantastic” new $300m buying agreement. “This deal would secure the industry’s future and result in increased Australian employment and significant benefit for our regional communities.”
The Coalition’s lobbying of the government for increased China access is a striking departure from the diversification policy championed by Scott Morrison after Beijing blocked trade on Australian goods previously worth $20bn a year.
It marks a role reversal as senior Liberals and Nationals try to reclaim their status as champions of trade with China, and comes ahead of battles in key seats in Queensland, Australia’s biggest avocado producer, and in electorates with high numbers of Chinese heritage Australians in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.
Both sides of politics have switched to more boosterish talk about trade with China as the election looms. Senator Farrell has repeatedly spoken of raising Australia’s two-way trade relationship with China from $327bn to $400bn in coming years.
“We can do that, but simultaneously we can increase our exports to other countries as a defensive mechanism,” Senator Farrell told The Australian in an interview last month in Shanghai.
The Coalition has been even more ambitious, with Peter Dutton saying he would “love to see” the trading relationship increase “two-fold” to $600bn.
Avocados were a bright spot at the recent China International Import Expo in Shanghai where other Australian vendors secured less deals than in the previous year despite turning out in record numbers.
Officials from China’s powerful Customs Department were repeat visitors at Avocado Australia’s stall, while Chinese state media gave them widespread coverage – unusual treatment for a product currently not allowed to be sold in China.
Despite China’s broader economic troubles, demand for avocados is booming as they gain popularity as a health food. That has led to quality problems as China’s biggest supplier, Peru, struggles to meet the growing demand.
“We know China wants the product,” Avocados Australia chief executive John Tyas told The Australian. “There’s a massive opportunity. It’s sitting on a plate,” he said, citing a host of MOUs the industry had signed with major Chinese importers last month in Shanghai.
Right now, the biggest hurdle for Australian avocado farmers is not Beijing but Canberra bureaucrats. They need the support of the federal government in market access talks with Beijing to be allowed to sell into China.
For more than half a decade, apples have been at the front of a market access queue that was put into the freezer along with the rest of the bilateral relationship.
Progress has been made since Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s visit to China last November, although a breakthrough has still not been announced despite raised expectations.
Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Minister Julie Collins met last week with China’s ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian. She declined to comment on the avocado industry’s tilt, saying her department was focused on ongoing talks with China about access for Australian apples and the restoration of access for live lobsters by Christmas.
“Australia and China are progressing technical negotiations for their respective market access priorities,” Ms Collins told The Australian.
The China Daily, a government-owned masthead, recently said other world leaders should learn from the Australian Prime Minister, who offered “some useful reference” for those trying to balance relations between Beijing and Washington.
Chinese diplomats in Australia have sought to downplay that China Daily editorial, insisting Beijing does not pick sides in Australian politics.
Labor for its part is sensitive about being portrayed as soft on China or having not learned from Australia’s epic encounter with Chinese economic coercion.
“The Albanese government continues to support Australian businesses to diversify,” Ms Collins said, noting 10 new markets Australian farmers gained access to in the past year.
China-reliant agricultural industries – particularly wine and lobsters – were the most badly hurt by Beijing’s coercion campaign. Some worry that the addition of a Chinese-focused avocado industry would give Beijing a fresh target when it next seeks to teach Canberra a lesson.
But many Australian agricultural businesses argue the market is just too big to ignore. Last year, China overtook Japan to become the biggest avocado buyer in Asia, even as per capita consumption of the fruit remains low by international standards.
The avocado industry argues that entering China would be a form of diversification, as its farmers already sell to Japan, India and Southeast Asia.
“It’s too great an opportunity. All the ducks are in a row,” said Mr Tyas, head of Avocados Australia. “We really need the government to make it happen.”
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