Nationals Senator Matt Canavan says China’s tariffs on beef are a “big concern” but Australia won’t “sell out” to them.
“Conditions are still very buoyant though for the beef sector,” Mr Canavan told Sky News.
“Notwithstanding the delisting of some meatworks by China in the last few months, it hasn’t flowed through at this stage to reduce prices or demand.
“A lot of people are restocking from the drought, some are in drought, so prices are holding up pretty well.”
Throughout the year China has, however, increased tariffs on Australian products including beef and wine.
“Obviously, there’s a concern for the future, China has been the biggest growth market for Australian beef over the last decade,” Mr Canavan said.
“I’d love to see our trade and relationship grow with China, but at the same time where we’re not, of course, going to sell out our own foreign policy independence.
“If that’s the price of that trade we are going to have to work on getting other markets going.”
