Key points:
- Australia's Trade Minister Don Farrell says he’s hopeful live lobsters will soon be accepted by China again.
- Chinese importers say they’ve been told ‘through channels’ that trade will resume this month.
- Local lobster exporters are readying themselves for first trade with China since 2020.
Second-generation lobster importer, Chen Dingping, says he’s eagerly awaiting the go-ahead to place orders to import crustaceans from Australia back into the port city of Xiamen in China’s southeast following years of acrimony between the two countries.
He told SBS Chinese he “learned through channels” that the lobster trade with Australia would resume this month.
Prior to the halt of Australia’s $700 million rock lobster trade with China, Mr Chen compared wholesale lobster prices via the internet before placing orders – usually for 750kg at a time.
“We monitored and ordered every day as the price would fluctuate with supply and demand,” Mr Chen said of Australian rock lobsters, which then accounted for 40 per cent of his company’s global purchases.
This was before the Chinese government imposed customs inspections on Australian live seafood in late 2020, citing concerns over metal contamination.
The move was widely seen as an unofficial ban on all live lobster imports from Australia, however exports of frozen lobster have continued.
Australian Trade Minister, Senator Don Farrell, has also fuelled optimism that trade will soon resume, telling SBS Chinese of the “warm [virtual] meeting” he had with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Wentao, in February.
The meeting represented the first dialogue between Australian and Chinese trade ministers since 2019.
The meeting was held following a visit by the Chinese Consul-General to Geraldton Fishermen’s Cooperative – the world’s largest processor and exporter of rock lobsters.
Minister Farrell confirmed to SBS Chinese that the company’s recent application to trade fresh lobsters from Australia was not rejected by Chinese officials.
All the signs are very, very positive. A range of other products have slowly started getting into China.Trade Minister Don Farrell
Geraldton Fishermen's Cooperative declined SBS's interview request.
Chinese state media confirmed the arrival of the first shipment of Australian coal to China in more than two years into the southern port of Zhanjiang on February 8.
“I'd like Australian lobsters to be the next one. I think we just have to work through all of these issues. We have to be calm. We have to be persistent,” Minister Farrell said.
Australia's trade with China in 2022 - amounting to almost $300 billion - was more than all trade done with the United States, Japan, Korea, United Kingdom, France and Germany put together, according to government data.
“On the other hand, we currently have about $20 billion worth of trade impediments,” Minister Farrell said.
“We have to make it clear to the Chinese government that we want these impediments removed, and we want them removed as quickly as possible so that our relationship with China can stabilise and our producers can get their products into China.”
One exporter keen to see impediments removed is third-generation veteran fisher, Clive Perryman, whose business in Tasmania relied on China buying up to 90 per cent of its southern rock lobsters prior to the ban.
“We really need to turn over some money and build up to where we were two or three years ago because … we've been flatlining and basically holding our heads above water,” he told SBS Chinese from southern Hobart.
Although he hasn’t received a visit from a Chinese official, he welcomes recent trade discussions between both sides.
“Any news and seeing the trade ministers talking for me is a positive outcome and a step in the right direction. Before, when you heard that trade ministers weren’t even talking to each other, it was very discouraging and depressing in a way, because we've been struggling,” Mr Perryman said.
Chinese officials in Melbourne told this outlet they were willing to communicate with Australia on “technical issues related to products".
“As far as we know, the confidence of relevant Chinese industries and consumers in relevant Australian products is gradually recovering,” Acting Consul-General for Tasmania and Victoria, Zeng Jianhua, said.
As long as the two sides work together and meet each other halfway, we are confident that the trade prospects of related products between China and Australia are promising.Zeng Jianhua
Although there has been no official announcement of a lobster trade resumption, there appears to be optimism from a number of corners.
Mr Chen said he was preparing for trade to resume from the port of Xiamen.
He said he would “order immediately” from Australian lobster exporters and was “not afraid of not selling” once direct flights carrying lobster freights into China were secured.
As for Mr Perryman, the trade talks have prompted him to consider rehiring staff he had made redundant at the start of the ban and reinvesting money back into fishing boats.
“We're just looking forward to settling our differences and rebooting where we were before, starting again and building up those friendships again."
He said he often reminisced about the time Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Tasmania in 2014 – seen by many as a high point in trade relations - and a famous photo of him in front of a premium lobster ended up featuring in a local magazine.
“If we can get another lobster over to him, I’d be quite happy,” Mr Perryman said.
