Rock lobster, rock lobster: live exports to China set to resume

Thanks to ‘timetabled’ agreement organised by the Australian Government with China’s Premier Li Qiang, full resumption of Australian live rock lobster exports is set to resume by the end of the year.

Since 2020, Australian rock lobsters have been effectively prevented from entering China’s market, which was worth over $700 million in 2019.

WA was the nation’s biggest supplier of lobster to China prior to the imposition of the tariffs, exporting more than 5500 tonnes of the delicacy, worth more than $448.7 million in 2018–19; the WA Government has therefore welcomed the resumption of live lobster sales to China. It’s expected that the state’s major lobster suppliers in the Mid West and metropolitan areas will gear up operations to resume trade in the coming months.

During the trade hiatus, the WA Government worked to maintain connections with the Chinese market, supporting WA lobster missions and promotions at key Chinese and Southeast Asian international exhibitions. Support was also provided to the local industry to adjust to the change in market access, including allowing lobster fishers to catch more lobsters to sell into the local market through the Back of Boat sales program and cultivating demand from other overseas markets. Geraldton MLA Lara Dalton said: “Our Mid West rock lobster fishery has weathered these sanctions by expanding into other markets over the past four years, making it more resilient to future disruptions.”

The federal government thanked the Australian rock lobster industry for its resilience during a challenging period.

The government has now seen progress on the removal of trade impediments for wine, barley, coal, cotton, timber logs, copper ores and concentrates, and some meat establishments — almost $20 billion worth of Australian exports.

Image credit: iStock.com/Philip Thurston