Cattle wait in an enclosure at a livestock export yard in Noonamah, about 50 km from Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
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The deal could see Australia potentially earning Aus$1-2 billion each year from exports to the huge Chinese market.
But after months of talks, rules to minimise the risk of the disease had been agreed, Australia’s Agricultural Minister Barnaby Joyce said.
THE live cattle trade to China will be open within months.
“I was very pleased today to sign the agreement of health conditions for trade of Australian feeder and slaughter cattle to China-now it’s over to my counterpart, Minister Zhi Shuping, to sign on the dotted line and finalise the agreement between our two nations”, Mr Joyce said.
The Council’s chief executive, Alison Penfold, said the deal with China was a “major breakthrough”.
“If China allows live cattle in a large quantities, it will impact the market a lot”, Pan Chenjun, senior analyst at Rabobank.
Australia is set to expand live cattle exports to China after signing a deal that will boost its access to surging Asian demand.
China’s beef imports grew more than tenfold since 2010 as consumption increased, US Department of Agriculture data show.
“As we pursue these opportunities in China we are mindful that we must continue to service our valuable existing markets which are very important to Wellard and to Australia”.
Joyce’s approval of the health protocols on Monday comes just a week after Indonesia – another major market for Australian live cattle exports – announced it was dramatically reducing the number of cattle it will take.
The Australian Livestock Exporters” Council said the “much anticipated agreement’ had been years in the making and significantly improved market diversification options for exporters and producers.
While it is still too early to speculate on numbers that will be exported to China, previous industry estimates were one million cattle a year.
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Indonesia has recently launched a self-sufficiency drive and slashed third-quarter cattle import quotas to 50,000 from almost 300,000 for the second quarter.
