Trade Minister Don Farrell has predicted the final obstacle for Australian exports to China - Beijing's ban on live lobster imports - will be lifted soon after Chinese Premier Li Qiang visits the country.
The return of lobsters to the Chinese market would be a milestone in the Australian government's ambition to stabilise bilateral relations since coming to power in 2022.
China banned minister-to-minister communications with Australia and imposed a series of official and unofficial trade barriers in 2020 on Australian products including beef, barley, coal, wood and wine costing exporters $20 billion a year.
Bilateral relations plumbed new lows after the former Coalition government demanded an independent investigation into the causes of and China's responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Farrell said Li becoming the first Chinese premier to visit Australia in seven years on Saturday would remove the final trade barrier on lobsters.
"I think there's both the willingness on our part and the part of the Chinese government to remove all of the impediments in our relationship," he said.
Lobster is the one remaining banned product after China lifted tariffs on Australian wine in March and restrictions on Australian beef last December.
"I'd be very confident that the visit this week will result in a very successful outcome for lobster producers," Farrell said.
Li will be accompanied by Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao when he visits the Adelaide, Canberra and Perth from Saturday until next Tuesday.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who in November became the first Australian government leader to visit Beijing in seven years, said Li's visit was symbolic of the normalisation of relations since the current government was elected.
"That has been important for Australia to renew that trade, because one in four of Australian jobs relies upon trade, and one in four of Australian export dollars is from trade to China," Albanese said.
Farrell was speaking at Wirra Wirra Vineyard in South Australia, which celebrated its 130th anniversary as a winery yesterday.
Since China removed the tariffs in April, $86 million of wine had been exported to what was once the largest export market for Australian vineries, Farrell said.
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That was more Australian wine than was sold to China in the preceding three years.
Australia provided almost 40 per cent of China's imported wine and was a market worth $1.24 billion a year to exporters before tariffs all but ended the trade in 2020.
While the trade relationship is improving, the security relationship is becoming more tense as Australia supports US efforts to counter China's growing influence in the Asia Pacific region.
Albanese said he will raise with Li clashes between Australian and Chinese forces over international waters in the South China and Yellow seas.
Albanese also reiterated Australia's call for Australian blogger Yang Hengjun to be released from a Beijing prison.
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