Australian businesses with close trade ties to China are naive or irresponsible

 

China-Australia relations: damage from trade bans limited as Australian exporters ‘successfully pivot’ to new markets

• China’s targeted bans on Australian goods have had an insignificant impact on most Australian exporters, the Australia-China Relations Institute says
• The institute says in a new report its findings undermine claims that Australian businesses with close trade ties to China are naive or irresponsible

The cost of China’s ban on a series of Australian goods has been almost negligible for some of the country’s exporters, indicating Australia’s dependence on the world’s second largest economy for trade has not been as devastating as some had predicted, a new report has found.

Free markets have provided exporters “risk mitigation mechanisms”, including opportunities to redirect goods to other countries or switch to supplying other products, and financial insurance in the form of earlier bumper profits from sales to China that have helped mitigate the current hard times, the report by the Australia-China Relations Institute (ACRI) at the University of Technology Sydney said.