AUSTRALIA
The Australian Meat Industry Council (AMIC) has today welcomed China’s reinstatement of export approvals for five out of seven Australian meat export processors that had been suspended in 2020.
The Council says it has worked tirelessly advocating for the lifting of the remaining suspensions with the Australian Government and industry partners in China.
“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.
The suspended meatworks were based in Queensland and New South Wales and had been trading around $1 billion worth of beef when they were locked out due to “technical reasons” in 2020. Two Australian exporters remain on China’s suspended list.
“The AMIC team has worked closely with Agricultural Minister Murray Watt and Trade Minister Don Farrell, The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as well as our industry partners in China, to have these suspensions lifted. This is 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.”
“As a matter of priority, we will continue working with the Federal Government and China on not only having the remaining two exporters’ suspensions lifted, but also restarting the new opportunities for other Australian red meat businesses who have been waiting for access to the Chinese Market.
“We are thankful to the Australian Government, Prime Minister Albanese, Minister Watt and Minister Farrell their work in assisting these businesses to regain their access to this incredibly important market,” said Mr Hutchinson.
The Australian Meat Industry Council (AMIC), is the sole Peak Industry body representing the post-farm gate meat industry, including processors, smallgoods manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors through to independent retail butchers and exporters.
