Australia's cotton and wheat industries are set to suffer a $1.2billion blow as China fires off new threat - amid fears our honey, fruit and pharmaceutical sectors are next to go
Australian workers in the cotton and wheat industries fear they will be the next sectors targeted as the ugly trade war with China continues to escalate.
The Morrison government has been told to expect significant hits to Australia's current $568million wheat and $611million cotton trade to China, totalling almost $1.2billion.
Fruit, honey and pharmaceutical export sectors are tipped to be next in the firing line, Nine News reported.
The Agriculture Department's forecast this month highlighted the genuine concerns currently facing Australian cotton and wheat farmers.
'Uncertainty has been cast over export sales to China with reports of orders to cease purchases of Australian cotton,' the report read, according to The Australian.
It comes after state-run Chinese companies were believed to have purchased $1.3billion of cotton from America this year, directly linked to Beijing's purchase commitment made to then US President Donald Trump in January.
Australia's wheat industry (pictured above) is set to suffer as trade relations with China continue to sour
The Morrison government have been told to expect to see significant hits to Australia's cotton and wheat industries in terms of trading with China, totalling $1.2 billion
Speaking in parliament on Wednesday, Trade Minister Simon Birmingham accused Australia's biggest trading partner of distancing themselves from meetings linked to the Free Trade Agreement signed between the two nations in 2015.
'After a reasonable start in bilateral engagement, in recent years the Chinese government's lack of engagement has prevented the use of these structures,' Senator Birmingham said.
The government also raised China's treatment of Australian barley, wine, meat, lobsters, timber, coal and cotton industries at a World Trade Organisation meeting in November.
'The Australian government is considering all dispute settlement options in order to support our exporters,' Senator Birmingham said.
He then added Australia's door remains open in terms of maintaining a positive working relationship with China.
'Australia remains committed to constructive and workable relations with China,' he said.
Overnight China hit back at Birmingham's claims it had breached the terms of their agreement.
'Australian Trade Minister's so-called concerns about China's adherence to ChAFTA are totally unfounded. We hope Australia can do more to enhance mutual trust and bilateral cooperation,' a Chinese embassy spokesperson said.
Earlier this week, lamb became the latest export victim in China's ongoing feud with Australia.
China banned meat imports from JBS Brooklyn and the Australian Lamb Company four months after both companies briefly shut down for self-reported COVID-19 outbreaks during Victoria's horror second wave.
Further sanctions have since been declared, with timber from Tasmania and South Australia now also banned.
There are heightened concerns about the implications the latest ban will have on Australia's $780million lamb export industry as it joins the growing list of Aussie products sanctioned by Beijing, including beef, barley, wine, seafood and coal.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (pictured above) has made no apologies for the current trade war with Australia
Australia's cotton industry is also under siege due to the ongoing trade war with China (stock image)
In a move which has left Australian exporters and sheep farmers fuming, China is still accepting imports from lamb companies in the US despite a number of serious outbreaks.
Relations were further strained when Beijing claimed that coronavirus may have spawned outside China and travelled to a wet market in Wuhan via frozen food exports from countries, including Australia.
The government-controlled Global Times newspaper attempted to cast doubt on the notion that Covid-19 originated in Wuhan by claiming cold-chain products were imported into the city from several countries including 'meat products from Brazil and Germany... Australian steak, Chilean cherries and Ecuadorian seafood.'
'As the mounting sporadic outbreaks in China were found to be related to imported cold-chain products, with other parts of the world, including Europe and the American continent, reportedly discovering signs of the coronavirus earlier than Wuhan, it begs a new hypothesis - did the early outbreak in Wuhan originate from imported frozen food?' The article claimed.
Relations between the two nations began deteriorating in April when Scott Morrison called for an inquiry into the origins of coronavirus. It was identified last year in the Chinese city of Wuhan before spreading globally, causing over 1.5million deaths.
Last month Beijing slapped a 212 per cent tariff on Aussie wine and held up Australian lobster and coal exports at Chinese ports.
How China's feud with Australia has rapidly escalated
2019: Australian intelligence services conclude that China was responsible for a cyber-attack on Australia's parliament and three largest political parties in the run-up to a May election.
April 2020: Australian PM Scott Morrison begins canvassing his fellow world leaders for an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. Britain and France are initially reluctant but more than 100 countries eventually back an investigation.
April 15: Morrison is one of the few leaders to voice sympathy with Donald Trump's criticisms of the World Health Organization, which the US president accuses of bias towards China.
April 21: China's embassy accuses Australian foreign minister Peter Dutton of 'ignorance and bigotry' and 'parroting what those Americans have asserted' after he called for China to be more transparent about the outbreak.
April 23: Australia's agriculture minister David Littleproud calls for G20 nations to campaign against the 'wet markets' which are common in China and linked to the earliest coronavirus cases.
April 26: Chinese ambassador Cheng Jingye hints at a boycott of Australian wine and beef and says tourists and students might avoid Australia 'while it's not so friendly to China'. Canberra dismisses the threat and warns Beijing against 'economic coercion'.
May 11: China suspends beef imports from four of Australia's largest meat processors. These account for more than a third of Australia's $1.1billion beef exports to China.
May 18: The World Health Organization backs a partial investigation into the pandemic, but China says it is a 'joke' for Australia to claim credit. The same day, China imposes an 80 per cent tariff on Australian barley. Australia says it may challenge this at the WTO.
May 21: China announces new rules for iron ore imports which could allow Australian imports - usually worth $41billion per year - to be singled out for extra bureaucratic checks.
June 5: Beijing warns tourists against travelling to Australia, alleging racism and violence against the Chinese in connection with Covid-19.
June 9: China's Ministry of Education warns students to think carefully about studying in Australia, similarly citing alleged racist incidents.
June 19: Australia says it is under cyber-attack from a foreign state which government sources say is believed to be China. The attack has been targeting industry, schools, hospitals and government officials, Morrison says.
July 9: Australia suspends extradition treaty with Hong Kong and offers to extend the visas of 10,000 Hong Kongers who are already in Australia over China's national security law which effectively bans protest.
August 18: China launches 12-month anti-dumping investigation into wines imported from Australia in a major threat to the $6billion industry.
August 26: Prime Minster Scott Morrison announces he will legislate to stop states and territories signing deals with foreign powers that go against Australia's foreign policy. Analysts said it is aimed at China.
October 13: Trade Minister Simon Birmingham says he's investigating reports that Chinese customs officials have informally told state-owned steelmakers and power plants to stop Aussie coal, leaving it in ships off-shore.
November 2: Agriculture Minister David Littleproud reveals China is holding up Aussie lobster imports by checking them for minerals.
November 3: Barley, sugar, red wine, logs, coal, lobster and copper imports from Australia unofficially banned under a directive from the government, according to reports.
November 18: China releases bizarre dossier of 14 grievances with Australia.
November 27: Australian coal exports to China have dropped 96 per cent in the first three weeks of November as 82 ships laden with 8.8million tonnes of coal are left floating off Chinese ports where they have been denied entry.
November 28: Beijing imposed a 212 per cent tariff on Australia's $1.2 billion wine exports, claiming they were being 'dumped' or sold at below-cost. The claim is denied by both Australia and Chinese importers.
November 30: Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lijian Zhao posted a doctored image showing a grinning Australian soldier holding a knife to the throat of an Afghan child. The move outraged Australians.