December 8th – The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) quoted the latest report of IBIS World, a US market research institute, on the 8th, showing that Australia’s export of agricultural products such as honey and fruits may lose the Chinese market as China-Australian tensions. Liam Harrison, senior industry analyst at IBIS World, said that losing the Chinese market could be devastating to Australia’s fruit industry.
IBIS World report says China has “significant influence” over many industries in Australia. China is an important market for Australian honey, accounting for a quarter of Australia’s honey exports. For China, there are many products that can replace Australian honey on the market, such as New Zealand honey.
Harrison said that Australia’s fruit industry may be devastated by losing the Chinese market. At present, Australian fruit farmers are experiencing a shortage of fruit pickers, including hot heat, forest fires and the coronavirus epidemic. Many orchards rot their fruits in the field.
According to the report, China is an important market for Australian fruit industry. At present, more than 45% of Australia’s citrus fruits, nuts and other fruits exports go to China. Growers of nuclear fruits such as apples and pears also export a large number of agricultural products to China, and more than 30% of their products are exported to China.
The Australian Department of Agriculture also released a report on the 6th that Australia’s agricultural exports will be hit hard by the deterioration of Sino-Australian relations and the continuous impact of drought. From 2020 to 2021, Australia’s agricultural exports will decline by 7% to 44.7 billion Australian dollars (about 217 billion yuan), the lowest level in nearly five years.
Agapi, deputy director of Asia-Pacific agricultural pricing at S&P Global Energy Information, said in an interview with Bloomberg that Australia is already at a disadvantage in a trade dispute with China, the largest trading partner. China has many substitute countries for agricultural imports, and Australia needs the Chinese market more.
