China to take beef on the water

In what is being heralded an extremely positive step, Trade Minister Steve Ciobo made the announcement following 24 hours of  “very constructive discussions”.

He has put a $100 million figure on the potential fall-out of the suspension of six beef processing plants in Australia.

Exporters have opted not to speak on the record with media in the belief fanfare will fuel the situation and hamper diplomatic and business-to-business efforts to resolve the situation.

Mr Ciobo held a press conference yesterday afternoon in Queensland, saying the processing facilities involved are responsible for a significant proportion of Australia’s beef exports to China.  

Fairfax Media has been told the plants involved are owned by JBS, Australian Country Choice, the Northern Co-operative Meat Company in Casino, Thomas Foods and Kilcoy Pastoral.

Mr Ciobo said he could not  reinforce enough the seriousness with which he and the Australian Government were taking the matter.

He made mention not only of the owners of the plants but the employees and the many farmers who supply beef being affected.

He said Australia takes China’s concerns seriously and wants to make sure  the concerns are addressed in order to “get this trade back on track as soon as possible.”

China has raised some labelling inconsistencies, he said.

“Some of the labels on the outside of the boxes of beef, for example, are different to some of the labels on the insides of the boxes,” he said.

“These are largely technical issues; they are not health and safety related.”

The Australian Department of Agriculture is currently undertaking a snap audit of the six affected facilities.

“We want to make sure that we are able to provide the assurances that the Chinese agency and the Chinese Government are looking for,” Mr Ciobo said.

“I have certainly had very constructive discussions with nearly all of the CEOs of the affected facilities. I want to make sure that we keep them informed, their employees informed and farmers informed about where things sit with respect to this very important export trade for Australia.

“We are seeing a very high level of constructive level engagement between Australian authorities and Chinese authorities. Our Embassy in Beijing has been talking on a regular basis with Chinese authorities. Of course I’ve also had the opportunity to be briefed by our acting ambassador in Beijing, making sure that we are very focused on trying to resolve this issue as quickly as we can.”