Five major Australian beef exporters suspended from exporting meat to China can now resume, Agriculture Minister Murray Watt has confirmed.
Senator Watt told ABC News Breakfast the suspensions were lifted by Beijing on Wednesday night with immediate effect.
“We had already seen a couple of other processing operations have their trade bans lifted, but now [it’s] another five,” Senator Watt said.
“That is fantastic news for the cattle producers, for the meat processing industry and for the workers in those industries.”
The meatworks that were suspended are in Queensland and New South Wales and had been trading about $1 billion worth of beef when they were locked out due to technical reasons during a trade war that began in 2020.
Two Australian exporters remain on the suspended list.
The Australian Meat Industry Council (AMIC) welcomed Beijing’s latest move, calling it a “great outcome not only for these companies but the clients some of them process for, and the thousands of farmers and feedlots they support through cattle purchase”.
“After four years of advocacy and hard work on the behalf of red meat exporters we have finally achieved a fantastic result,” said AMIC CEO Patrick Hutchinson.
“As a matter of priority, we will continue working with the federal government and China on … having the remaining two exporters’ suspensions lifted.
“We are thankful to the Australian government, Prime Minister Albanese, Minister Watt and Minister Farrell [for] their work in assisting these businesses to regain their access to this incredibly important market.”
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