If China thought that they would whip Australia into submission with their trade and diplomatic war, it’s starting to look as if they made a big boo-boo.
Firstly, in an admirable display of fortitude, the Morrison government has ignored the incessant yapping of China-compromised Labor and the white-anting by mining billionaires and refused to buckle.
Secondly, despite the cacophony of whining from the universities and some business sectors, the trade war is rapidly proving to be an opportunity, not a disaster.
At home, Aussie consumers are enjoying quality home-grown seafood and wine at prices not seen since producers started shipping off all the best stuff to China. Abroad, businesses which have lazily and greedily relied on China are discovering to their astonishment that there are plenty of other markets in the world.
Despite the trade tensions with China and the massive tariff imposed on barley exports, there are some good signs for grain growers on international markets.
West Australian grain handler CBH Group has sent a shipment of malt barley to Mexico, which is a first for the Australian grains industry.
The shipment of 35,000 tonnes of malting barley, used to make beer, was loaded at the port of Albany in WA and sent to Mexico.
Make cerveza, not trade war!
CBH Chief Marketing and Trading Officer Jason Craig said other shipments could follow.
“While it is early days, this shipment to Mexico signals a potential new market for malting barley. However, this will need to be developed over time.”
There is an opening in Saudi Arabia, which is the second-largest barley market globally, importing approximately 7 million tonnes each year.
“Australian feed barley has become very price competitive compared to barley from alternative origins, such as Russia and the Ukraine that have dominated exports to the country for the past few years,” Mr Craig said.
There is good news for Australian growers in the feed sector as well.
Australian feed barley exports to Thailand and Vietnam are expected to double in 2020-21, according to CBH.
Countries like Vietnam are important potential strategic partners as well. The “Quad” informal alliance with India, Japan and the US is part of a growing regional awareness that China must be contained.
Russia is accidentally handing Australian growers a fillip as well.
World wheat prices are also set to rise after Russia imposed a second levy on exports and cancelled some contracts for Russian wheat.
Commonwealth Bank Commodity Analyst Tobin Gorey said it was all being driven by domestic politics.“The Russian President doesn’t want to see food prices in Russia continue to increase and he wants to keep more grain for local use.”
Russia is the world’s biggest exporter, so this latest action is expected to push world prices up.“There will be a reduction in the amount of Russian wheat sold into the Middle East and South East Asia and it will pave the way for Australian grain sales,” Mr Gorey said.
World wheat stocks have been running down over the last few years and Australian farmers on the eastern seaboard have had a big harvest.
ABC Australia
All this is taking place against a political backdrop at home of growing clamour from Australian voters to decouple our economy and politics from China. China’s brutal mendacity in unleashing the China virus on the world, followed by its hypocritical trade war, has torn away the curtain for all who can see.
It turns out that Australia may not need China as much as Beijing banked on.
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