The federal Trade Minister says the government is trying to understand why China has delayed importing table grapes at a cost the Australian industry estimates to be worth millions of dollars a week.
Dan Tehan says he “won’t jump to any conclusions” about the possibility that the $300 million a year table grape trade to China is the latest casualty in the trade war with the superpower.
In the past year China has wiped billions of dollars of Australian exports including barley, red wine, meat, seafood, timber, cotton and coal.
Now, Australian growers say containers of fresh table grapes that would normally clear China’s customs authorities in one or two days have been delayed by up to 20 days, sometimes without refrigeration.
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