The gradual lifting of the Chinese sanctions began in January 2023, with the removal of the ban on Australian coal, followed by timber in May of that year, and barley in August. The wine ban was lifted in March this year, and the ban on most beef exporters removed in May.

Coal is one of Australia’s top three exports, along with iron ore and gas, and the shock ban caught exporters by surprise, leaving dozens of vessels stranded off China’s coastline unable to dock. Australia is a major coal producer and China’s ban forced a realignment of global trade flows, leading to Australian producers moving into new markets, including South-East Asia and India. China replaced Australian coal in part with Russian exports, but since the ban lifted at the start of 2023, Australian exports have soared and it is now the largest Chinese supplier.

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Australian wine growers lost their biggest, most lucrative market overnight when China slapped tariffs of more than 200 per cent on their products, effectively cutting off access to its $1.2 billion market, leaving many suppliers in the industry with an oversupply of red wine.

Wine producers report encouraging sales since the export ban was lifted in March, but in the meantime France captured around 50 per cent of China’s market share, and Chile 20 per cent, so the future remains uncertain for Australian growers.

Albanese said the government’s “patient, calibrated and deliberate approach” had led to the restoration of trade ties with Australia’s largest export market, praising the work done to effect “the removal of trade impediments one by one”.

“The premier pointed out the quite considerable growth that has occurred in Australian exports, including wine and barley, that has grown to be larger than what was there before there were impediments to that trade.”

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Trade Minister Don Farrell and Foreign Minister Penny Wong urged Australian businesses to continue to diversify their trade markets beyond China.

China’s veto on Australia’s lobsters came swiftly. Live shellfish worth $2 million were stranded on the tarmac at Chinese airports on November 1, 2020 when a sudden ban was imposed via increased customs inspections that brought imports to a halt.

Lobster exporter Andrew Ferguson, who runs Ferguson Australia in South Australia, said he welcomed the end to four years of confusion.

However, Ferguson said it remained unclear how the China export market would recover.

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“Whether the market is the same as where it left off, that’s the big question. I seriously don’t think it will be the same volume or the pricing,” he said.

“It gives us another big option, but we’ve done a lot of work in other markets and we’ve developed products in the supermarkets and a lot of the supermarkets in Australia have now got our products.

“But we’ll learn from the experience that we can’t keep all our eggs in one basket.”

A spokesman for peak industry representative the Australian Meat Industry Council said discussions with China about lifting restrictions on the two abattoirs that remain barred are “well-progressed” and it is hopeful of a swift resolution.

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