According to Australian media reports, the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) recently met with the Australian Department of Agriculture for the first time in more than two years, and began to lift trade restrictions on Australian fruits.

The official website of the GACC has updated the "List of Registered Australian Citrus Exports to China", adding 496 citrus plantations, as well as the list of Australian stone fruit, mango and cherry orchard packaging plants exported to China. This is the first time since 2020 that the GACC has updated the import list of Australian stone fruit, mango and cherry, and the first time since 2021 that the import list of citrus fruit has been updated. As of now, the import list of Australian apples and grapes has not been updated.

Nathan Hancock, chief executive of Citrus Australia, said the move heralds a warming economic relationship between the two countries, and that Australian citrus exports to China may increase in the next few years, chief executive of the Australian Mango Industry Association. Executive Brett Kelly emphasized that high-quality Australian mangoes are popular in the Chinese market, and growers can make high profits from this. Trevor Ranford, chief executive of Summerfruit Australia, estimated that about 110 Australian stonefruit producers would benefit from HMRC's list update.

Although exports to China are restricted, Australian fruits have been continuously exported to China in recent years. Although the export value of Australian fruit to China in the 2020/21 production season fell sharply by 35% year-on-year, and in the 2021/22 production season fell again by 19.5% year-on-year, China is still the largest export market for Australian fruit. At present, Australia's final export data for this season has not yet been released, but the report of the stone fruit sector shows that in the 2022/23 production season, the sector exported a total of 15,000 tons of fruit, and the export volume to the Chinese market accounted for 62% of the total export volume.

With the lifting of restrictions on Australian fruit exports, Australia has also ushered in stronger weather conditions this year. In recent years, due to frequent precipitation and floods, fruit production has been severely disrupted and supply has been hit. The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) expects dry weather in 2023 and 2024, improving crop damage caused by prolonged wet weather and reducing the occurrence of plant diseases. Favorable weather will help improve fruit quality and growers will be able to supply better quality fruit for export markets.