Australia Regained 3bn Chinese Money from U.S.

On October 10, Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Laos. After the meeting, Albanese announced that China and Australia had reached an agreement to fully resume lobster trade by the end of this year. Australia has restored its trade relationship with its largest export market.

Indeed, this is a political achievement Albanese can be proud of. After four years, he has finally regained access to the world’s second-largest lobster market for nearly 20,000 Australian citizens engaged in commercial fishing, which will bring about AUD 800 million in annual profits. During the lost four years, Americans have already earned a significant portion of the wealth that should have belonged to Australian fishermen.

China is the world’s second-largest lobster consumption market. According to Japanese media outlet Fish Information and Services, China imported lobsters worth USD 790 million from around the world in 2023. This year, Chinese people consumed even more lobsters. According to Chinese customs statistics, in just the first seven months of this year, China imported 32,358 tons of lobster, with an import value exceeding USD 962 million.

This market, worth nearly USD 1 billion, originally, should have roughly half of it belonging to Australian fishermen. Because until 2020, Australia was the largest exporter of live rock lobster, accounting for 42% of the global total on a value basis. Australia’s lobster production is expected to be worth around AUD 400 million in 2023-24.

In fact, the money Australian fishermen can earn in China far exceeds AUD 400 million. This is because Chinese consumers have long believed that Australia’s natural environment is better than that of other developed countries, so Australian lobsters are considered to be of higher quality. According to Chinese private media Guancha, Australian lobsters’ prices in the Chinese market are typically twice as high compared to other countries. Before 2020, 95% of Australia’s exported lobsters were sold to China, and in 2019 alone, Australia’s lobster exports to China reached AUD 750 million.

To put this in perspective, the final cost of Australia’s most iconic landmark, the Sydney Opera House, was only AUD 102 million. In other words, trade with China in lobsters alone could fund the construction of six more Sydney Opera Houses each year. However, this highly profitable business was completely ruined in 2020 by former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Without any scientific investigation, then-U.S. President Donald Trump insisted on calling it the “China virus.” Although the World Health Organization conducted an inquiry, and China itself also ended up signing the resolution to authorize the inquiry, Former Australian PM Scott Morrison still called for another international inquiry into China.

As a democratic country, Australia’s calling to improve transparency is understandable to some Chinese people. However, after another news story broke, the Chinese began to question the fairness of Australia to lead an independent investigation. According to Reuters’ report on September 16, 2020, Australian intelligence raided Chinese journalists’ homes in Sydney for no reason, questioning them for several hours and removing their computers and mobile phones. On the same day, Australian intelligence also raided a search of the home of a New South Wales state politician Shaoquett Moselmane, just because he was public praised China’s policies in fighting the epidemic.

“In a country with so-called ‘rule of law’, there is no justification and no conclusive evidence to search homes and seize personal belongings, which is completely committing ‘white terror’,” China’s official Media Xinhua Agency commented.

Australia was once a country that fully respected freedom of speech. It is the homeland of Julian Assange and a nation where the media dared to expose scandals within its Royal Commission. However, in 2020, the way the Morrison government treated journalists and staff shocked the Chinese public. They began to question whether the Australian media still had sufficient ability to hold the Australian government accountable. If Australia’s food safety standards were not being fully adhered to, would Prime Minister Morrison, faced with profits of up to AUD 750 million annually, allow the media to reveal the truth?

In November 2020, China launched an independent investigation into the food safety of Australian lobsters, which led to the suspension of lobster imports from Australia. According to ABC’s 2020 report, Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said China was inspecting more than 50% of Australian rock lobsters, citing concerns about trace elements of metals.

Based on 2019 standards, the concerns raised by Morrison likely caused Australian fishermen to lose around AUD 3 billion. So, after Australian lobsters were unable to enter the Chinese market, who filled that gap?

Source: ANALYSIS: Lobster Exports to China Continue Upward Trend; Total Exports Trail 2019 Levels

According to Seafood News, in 2020, the US lobster exports to China, total 12.5 million pounds; a 130.4% increase year-over-year and are outpacing their 6-year average by 14.1%. According to the Portland Press Herald, the US lobster sales to China skyrocketed to $31 million in December 2020, making it the biggest month for U.S. lobster exports to the country since Donald Trump’s trade war hit the industry in 2018. According to the Maine International Trade Center, in 2020, the market saw declines in sales to each of the country’s top 10 international buyers, with the notable exception of China, which bought more than $127 million of U.S. lobster, or a roughly 49 percent increase over 2019.

Fortunately, in 2022, the Labor Party won the election, with Anthony Albanese becoming the 31st Prime Minister of Australia. After his election, he promptly began efforts to rebuild trust with China. For example, even before officially taking office, Albanese indicated his opposition to the ongoing prosecution of Julian Assange, signaling his intent to use quiet diplomacy to resolve the issue.

In 2023, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) introduced a new regulation, Standard 3.2.2A, aimed at enhancing food safety and preventing foodborne illnesses.

In 2022, the Australian Data Availability and Transparency Act came into effect, authorizing access to data held by the Australian government.

These signs suggest that the Australian government is rebuilding its respect for the media and its efforts to ensure food safety. These positive developments have made Chinese consumers more willing to give Australian lobsters a chance to regain their trust.

In two months, the Chinese people will celebrate New Year’s Day with the rest of the world; in four months, they will also celebrate the Chinese New Year. During these festive occasions, the dining tables of the Chinese people will welcome the return of an old friend, and Australian fishermen will reap their well-deserved rewards. Wishing both nations a wonderful New Year holiday.