China Trade

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (14:56): My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries. Can the minister inform the house about his recent visit to Hong Kong and China, and the meetings he held there?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson—Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Tourism, Minister for Recreation and Sport, Minister for Racing) (14:56): I thank the member for Kaurna for the question. Last week, I had a couple of days in Hong Kong and 2½ days in Qingdao, the capital of the Shandong Province. There are unbelievable opportunities in both of those places for South Australian producers. Shandong and South Australia have had a sister-state relationship going back 30 years; Qingdao and Adelaide are now sister cities. The relationships that have been built up, particularly in the past couple of years since our Premier has come on board and really decided to get on board and drive that relationship with Shandong, have been sensational.

We know that last year, when we had all the world leaders up in Brisbane, there were other states courting Shandong and trying to have a relationship with that state. They have 100 million people; they have an economy the same size as Indonesia; it has the third-highest GDP by province in China. We know other states were trying to get in on the act, and the leaders of Shandong said, 'No, we're sticking with South Australia; we have been with them for 30 years.'

These relationships are ready to get stronger and stronger with the free trade agreement being signed last November and the Australia dollar coming down to around 70¢. A good example is the price of wine. A bottle of wine that might have cost you $10 in China, or a Chinese import at $10 last year, will cost them $7 this year. Next year, with the first wave of the free trade agreement coming in, it will be $6, and $5 the year after that. So, they will be paying half the price, and they will be able to import twice the volume that they were just last year. They are looking at us as having great opportunities to increase the volume of imports, and they are going after the high-value and quality premium produce that we have here in South Australia.

We met with people who are already existing importers of South Australian produce, including the Tsingtao Brewery, which uses so much South Australian barley. Tony Renshaw and the Southern Mallee group were there, and they have formed a cooperative where they want to deal directly with the Tsingtao Brewery, which I think is a great example of how South Australian farmers can work collaboratively with people overseas.

We have also seen it with KI Pure Grain, of course, who are working with the Japanese to get their canola into the Japanese market. They are getting a $60 premium on their grain. I think that is the way of the future. We have got Glencore, that does a great job on the bulk thing, but if we can come up with some more of these niche marketing deals, then that would be a great thing.

We met with the customs people in Qingdao as well, and they are working with us to make it easier for us to get our premium produce—and particularly things like milk and seafood that have a limited shelf life and need to be treated well on the way in. We know it is very healthy when it leaves here; we want to make sure that it spends as little time out in the sun and in the distribution system as possible overseas.

The Premier is leading a delegation to Qingdao in May and further negotiations will be held between now and then. The Premier will also be heading to Hong Kong to open up the koala exhibit at Ocean Park. Ocean Park has eight million people go through it each weekend, and we have three koalas from Cleland, which was the brainchild of our now Governor Hieu Van Le. He will be up there as well for the opening ceremony.

What we did last week up there was actually launch the food and wine package, so you have eight million people coming through, eating a lot of food and drinking some wine while they are at the park. There are now 30 Australian wines on the list at Ocean Park and lots of seafood. We have Wong Wing Chee, a Hong Kong chef, working with Nigel Rich, a McLaren Vale chef, and they have put together an amazing package of South Australian food. Things are looking good in Hong Kong and Qingdao and we will continue to work on the relationships for the betterment of the agribusiness sector.