Beijing Continues Coercion Campaign Banning Imports From 10th Australian Abattoir

Cattle in Birdsville Track, South Australia, on June 1, 2002. (Tony Lewis/Getty Images)

Beijing has suspended imports from a tenth Australian meat abattoir, citing a recent COVID-19 outbreak that saw 140 individuals infected with the virus.

The abattoir in Naracoorte in South Australia is run by meat processing giant Teys, who received notification of the suspension on Jan. 29 from the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China.

In mid-January, Teys was grappling with an outbreak of COVID-19 that saw supermarket giant Woolworths briefly suspend meat processing at the Naracoorte site.

Regarding the China trade ban, John Langbridge, corporate affairs general manager at Teys, said they had not costed the potential loss in trade.

“I wouldn’t have any idea at this stage, and it is entirely in the hands of the Australian and Chinese governments,” Langbridge said in comments obtained by The Advertiser.

“Historically, other plants that have been temporarily suspended to China out of Australia are still waiting to get back on the list.”

The ban on Teys comes after an Oct. 18 suspension of an export license belonging to Queensland-based Australian Country Choice (ACC).

Chinese authorities supposedly detected a chemical substance used to treat bacterial infections in dogs in ACC’s products.

“The reasons provided to Department of Agriculture Water and Environment (DAWE) from Chinese authorities was that a frozen product received in China had failed a random sampling test for chloramphenicol on beef products inspected at the entry port of Ningbo,” ACC CEO Anthony Lee said in a statement to The Epoch Times.

“In the absence of a China licence, the company will now focus on alternative markets.”

Other companies to have had their meat exports suspended include Queensland’s Kilcoy Pastoral Company, Beef City (owned by JBS Group), John Dee, and Meramist; New South Wales’ Northern Cooperative Meat Company; and Victoria’s Australian Lamb Company and JBS Brooklyn.

The latest episode continues an ongoing economic coercion campaign by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) against Australian exports, which started in April 2020 after Foreign Minister Marise Payne publicly called for an investigation into the origins of COVID-19.

Coercion measures deployed included arbitrary border testing and inspections, the imposition of tariffs, unwarranted delays in listing export establishments, and the issuing of import licenses.

Businesses in the barley, coal, cotton, hay, logs, meat, rock lobsters and wine industries have all been impacted, subsequently forcing them to diversify into other markets.