Traditional Chinese medicine market in Tasmania's sights after signing of four-year agreement

A joint-research hub between the Australian Education Management Group and the University of Tasmania will be established as part of the $1 million agreement, which includes growing trials at the government's research farm at Forthside.

The trial comes after the Tasmanian Government signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine in 2015, when Tasmania was identified as having ideal growing conditions for the crops.

Primary Industries Minister Guy Barnett said the herbs that are required for traditional Chinese medicine could help to further diversify the state's agricultural sector - and the export market went beyond China itself.

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"Two types of ginseng will be used in the first trial," he said.

"It's a $50 billion market, so if we can meet at least even a portion of that, this could be another poppy industry, pyrethrum industry.

"We are placing Tasmania in the right spot to be able to export our agricultural products to meet that growing market in China and indeed on mainland Australia and other parts of the world."

The partnership was finalised during a trade delegation to China this month, led by Mr Barnett.

He also appeared with a Chinese social media influencer in front of about 5.6 million people on a live streaming platform, participating in a cooking demonstration featuring Tasmanian scallops and wine.

"We had a Chinese social media guru who's involved in the Masterchef equivalent in China, and we had two masterchefs with us, and they co-opted me to wear an apron and cook some Tasmanian scallops which I did without failing miserably," Mr Barnett said.

"And the taste test was undertaken and was passed."

The trade mission included a Tasmanian Renewable Energy Investor Symposium which had a particular focus on the potential of green hydrogen exports, the launch of the Natural Tasmanian Wool brand in Shanghai and a Tasmanian seafood event co-hosted with the Australian Consul General.

Despite positive outcomes, the spectre of the China-US trade war continued to create uncertainty for other trading partners, including Australia.

China has pledged to buy $80 billion in US agricultural products for the coming two years - a move that some fear could harm Australian exports.

The trade war has already impacted Tasmanian timber exports to China, Mr Barnett said.

"There have been issues with forestry exports into China and it's slowed down in recent months. We also met with some of the key players in the forest industry in China and those discussions were very positive," he said.

"It's all a flow-through from the China-US trade challenges that they currently have."