Australia'S Raw Leather Exports To The Chinese Market Will Be Exempt From Tariffs For Several Years.

Following the announcement of a substantive conclusion of the Sino Australian free trade negotiation agreement between China and Australia, the two sides signed yesterday's letter of intent for free trade agreement.

According to BBC news, Canberra said that after several rounds of negotiations, the China Australia Free Trade Agreement will eventually become the fruit of Australia's total opening of about tens of billions of dollars in the Chinese market.

In 2013, the total trade between China and Australia amounted to 150 billion Australian dollars (about 130 billion US dollars). The Australian government believes that the implementation of the FTA will add another 20 billion Australian dollars (about US $17 billion 500 million) to bilateral trade volume between the two countries.

Over the past twenty years, trade between China and Australia has grown steadily.

It has become Australia's largest bilateral trading partner.

According to the data released by the Ministry of Commerce, China has remained Australia's largest trading partner, the largest export destination and the largest source of imports as of September this year.

BBC reports mentioned in detail.

Products 85% exported to China will not be subject to customs duties, including raw leather and leather products.

After the agreement is fully implemented, the duty free products will increase to more than 95%.

Australia Broadcasting Corporation website reported that Australian farmers and leather industry exporters welcomed the signing of the Sino Australian FTA agreement, which meant that products such as Australian beef and raw skins could achieve tariff free entry to the huge Chinese market in the next few years.

According to press reports, the Australian leather industry

The average annual export value of finished leather exported to China is about 896 million US dollars, and the tariff rate of raw and finished leather exported from Australia to China is between 5% and 14%.

Australia Broadcasting Corporation reports that these tariff rates will be reduced to zero in the next 2 to 7 years.

After the formal implementation of the Sino Australian free trade agreement, by 2030, the total benefits of free trade agreements or the leather industry in Australia could reach US $6 billion.

From the Sino Australian trade data recently released by the Ministry of Commerce, the reporters found that in the first 3 quarters of this year, the total export of raw skins (excluding fur) and leather in Australia amounted to US $832 million, of which the total volume of exports to China was about 597 million US dollars, accounting for more than 70%.

FTA David Larkin, a member of the red meat trade negotiations, said that the gradual elimination of tariff costs would have a positive impact on the owners, processing plants and exporters of Australia's cattle and sheep farms, and that Chinese customers and consumers could no longer pay the premium due to customs duties.

Shoes, bags and other products are also the main trade products between China and Australia.

According to the Ministry of commerce data, in the first 3 quarters of this year, the total number of footwear products imported from Australia totaled US $1 billion 217 million, and the total imports from China amounted to US $769 million, accounting for about 60%. In addition, the total imports of leather goods and bags from Australia were US $516 million, up 0.4% over the same period last year.

According to BBC, another important point in the Sino Australian FTA is that Chinese exporters' clothing, shoes, automobiles and electronic products exported to Australia will be exempted from customs duties.