China lifts ban on Australian lobsters

Beijing has banned or imposed retaliatory tariffs on almost $15 billion of Australian exports, from wine to timber, during years of soured ties with Canberra.

The lobster trade, worth $500,000 a year, is the last major Australian export still under sanctions and its elimination has been the subject of months of Australian diplomatic efforts.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ultimately declared victory after meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Laos, saying Beijing had agreed to a “timetable to resume full lobster trade by the end of this year.”

China imposed a de facto ban on live rock lobsters in 2020, while denying that the move – and a series of other punitive tariffs – were linked to the worst crisis in relations in decades.

Beijing was outraged by Australia’s crackdown on Chinese foreign influence operations, its decision to block tech giant Huawei from running Australia’s 5G network, and a call for an investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Thursday’s reversal comes as Beijing expects a deepening of trade wars with Europe and the United States.

Brussels and Washington have imposed punitive tariffs on Chinese exports of electric vehicles, semiconductors, solar panels and a range of other goods.

Spiky spat

Thursday’s announcement is a notable political victory for Albanians as he seeks re-election in early 2025. Many lobster producers come from Western Australia, a key battleground state.

The center-left leader has spent much of his more than two years in office trying to shield the vital trade relationship with China, Australia’s largest trading partner, from geopolitical headwinds.

Australia is part of a loose US-led alliance that has aggressively resisted China’s bid for primacy in the Pacific region.

Kyri Toumazos of the South Australian Northern Zone Rock Lobster Fishermen’s Association told AFP he was “relieved” the ban would be lifted.

“For us, the Chinese market has been our core market for a long time, so we can start working on it again. The demand is there, and it will continue to be there,” he says.

Before the ban, an estimated 97.7 percent of Australia’s langoustine exports were sold to China, more than 1,600 tonnes per year.

Some Australian producers have since found new markets in the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Many more circumvented sanctions by creating a “gray market” for exports to China via Hong Kong, Hanoi and other Asian cities.

The volume of exports to Hong Kong alone shot up by more than 6,100 percent after the ban, according to researchers at the University of Technology Sydney.

The abruptness of the Chinese ban and the realization of over-dependence on China have left many Australian manufacturers wary.

But the size of the Chinese market could make a return irresistible.

Andrew Lawrie of Sky Seafoods in South Australia once sold 95 percent of his lobster to China.

When the ban came, he shifted focus to the domestic market, but attempts to replace China were in vain: “That’s not possible because of the volume,” he told AFP.

Lawrie said a return to the Chinese market was “definitely risky” but the sales volume and high prices in China made it worth it.

Sanctions are expected to be lifted in time for Chinese New Year, when delicacies such as spiny lobster are in high demand.