Australian blueberry growers have been chasing the lucrative China market for a decade, and are concerned that political tensions could further delay access.
Despite a free trade agreement with China, the Australian Government has not yet established a blueberry export protocol with China.
President of Berries Australia Peter McPherson said the industry had done everything possible to bring the deal to fruition.
"We are in communication regularly with the Department of Agriculture, who handle that side of the fence, but clearly the message we keep getting is that it's above us in the geopolitical space," he said.
"I've been to China many times, to Beijing and met with the Chinese import officials, quarantine people over there, and they keep passing the ball back to Australia."
Mr McPherson said it was concerning that other countries, including its key competitors in South America, have gained market access to China in much less time.
"If you look at what Peru does, if you look at why Chile's been so successful in getting market access, it's because their ministers, right through to their prime minister and their president, will do the deal at the end of the day and in Australia we're just not good at doing that," he said.
While the industry would continue pursuing access to China, it was also looking at other opportunities throughout Asia— including re-entry into Japan.
A spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture said blueberries were "the next market access priority for Australia to China".
"We are currently negotiating for mainland apples as Australia's highest priority and will commence negotiations for access for blueberries once these are concluded," the spokesperson said.
"We continue to work with the Australian blueberry sector in preparation for negotiating access to China."
Business as usual for dairy exports
While the Northern Co-operative Meat Company in Casino works with the Government to have China's suspension on its beef lifted, it is business as usual in nearby Lismore at Australia's largest dairy co-operative.
Norco has been exporting fresh milk to China since 2014, and its chairman Greg McNamara said they did not expect that to change.
"We're certainly concerned by the current experience of the beef industry, or some abattoirs, but we've got some great relationships with the Chinese and we'll be working with the Government to make sure we maintain access," he said.
"At this point we've heard nothing, so it's business as usual for fresh milk sales to China."
The dairy processor was exporting close to 2 million litres of fresh milk a year to China before the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It can be 20,000 to 30,000 litres a week … it's dropped back maybe 20 to 30 per cent, but it's certainly starting to pick up again now," he said.
'We'd just find different markets'
Larry McHugh from Australia's largest macadamia exporter — Marquis Macadamias — said while potentially difficult, it would survive losing access to China.
"Our company, and the industry, doesn't depend entirely on China for its business, so if they did put a further tariff, or a ban on us, then we'd just find different markets," he said.
"We haven't heard anything about the macadamia industry having any problems, but I dare say that the meat companies who got embargoed didn't know anything at the time either.
"We're planning as if we will be sending to China but we're willing to adapt if we need to."
Mr McHugh said there was a good reason why the company's export market to China was worth only $10 to $15 million of it annual $300 million turnover.
"China has always been a volatile market and we know that things like this can happen, so we're always prepared by making sure we keep their market share to a volume we can handle," he said.
"They're very fussy on the border and things get turned around if numbers don't match or if you have the wrong labels on."
He said, in the past, China had changed phytosanitary rules coming into port and also once shut down their processing operations in China overnight.
"They sometimes put other border restrictions in place as they react to various things around the world," he said.
