West Australian rock lobster exports to China resume as fishers rejoice

Local rock lobster fishers are relieved to regain access to their main market after a four-year ban by Beijing.

Transcript

00:00Fresh from the ocean, bound for Beijing.

00:06Four years after China stopped buying live Australian lobsters, commercial quantities

00:14of the crustacean are again being shipped, a relief for fishers and exporters who scrambled

00:20into action when they got the news.

00:22Hurry up and get your pots in the water and get out of here on holidays.

00:27The WA rock lobster industry was worth $500 million in 2019.

00:33Today it's valued at less than half that.

00:37Trade tensions in 2020 saw a list of Australian commodities locked out of markets in China,

00:43including lobster, beef, barley and wine.

00:46Those industries had their tariffs and bans overturned and now, after years of negotiation,

00:53live lobster will once again be sold in the Chinese market.

00:57I think it's going to take us a wee while to see what normal actually looks like but

01:01for now we're celebrating the fact that we've rejoined our customers that we've spent decades

01:06building those relationships with.

01:09China once bought 95% of West Australian lobsters.

01:14Red and shaped like little dragons, the crustacean is considered lucky.

01:19And with the trade restored just in time for lunar new year celebrations at the end of

01:24January, WA fishers consider themselves lucky too.

01:29To have this resolved and be back in that market now is just tremendous for all parties,

01:34including the Chinese consumers.

01:35They've been really looking forward to having Western rock lobster back on their tables.

01:39Fishers are hoping the pent up demand from Chinese diners will lead to a lift in prices.

01:46The industry says it remains committed to supplying local consumers and the 22 other

01:51foreign markets it developed during the ban.