Oz farmers do their sums on Chinas WTO entry

By Boyd Champness

THE agreement to allow China into the World Trade Organisation should boost world demand for wool apparel and spark massive growth in grain sales, according to Australian agricultural leaders.

While Australian farmers hope WTO entry will provide a boon for China – the largest buyer of Australian wool – Woolmark international market development manager Barry White told The Weekly Times that like all trade agreements: “the devil was often in the details.”

If the agreement, or Chinas accession to the WTO, were to be ratified by the US congress next year, the draconian wool quota restrictions applied to China by the United States would have to be phased out by 2005.

The USA, which has vigorously protected its local wool industry, would be forced to scrap its wool quota system, which has been particularly harsh and selectively onerous on Chinas exports of wool apparel to the USA.

The impact of these quotas can be gauged by Chinas 1998-99 wool apparel export figures, which were printed in The Weekly Times.

Japan was Chinas leading market with 179 million units of product, Hong Kong followed with 75 million and the USA at 13.5 million units.

Woolmark believes that if the USA removed its quotas on China wool product, Chinas exports to the USA had the potential in 2005 to surpass Japans import levels.

On the grain front, AWB Ltd has predicted trade with the most populous nation could grow by 900% in the next few years once China joins the WTO, hopefully early in the New Year.

Once China becomes a WTO member, Australia will be given the same access as any other player in the Chinese marketplace.

“What this means for Australian wheat growers is that trade with China will be stronger,” Mr Flugge told The Weekly Times. “AWB has a strong relationship with China which we have nurtured over many years.”