Australian kangaroo meat exporters have China to thank for saving their industry following last year’s disaster when trade with Russia collapsed, after striking a deal with the Asian giant.
“The formalities with China are now agreed to in terms of the principles of being able to export, and China’s now waiting for a formal application from any Australia exporter,” said Minister for Agriculture Tony Burke.
Russia formerly accounted for more than two-thirds of roo meat exports, however in August 2009, Russia banned roo meat after concerns about hygiene.
The deal with China will boost the industry and buy it some time to retrain roo shooters to meet the new Russian standards, added Burke.
“The people we’ve got in the kangaroo industry are already highly trained but there’s some specific changes that do require extra training,” he said. “That will allow them to meet the demands that have been put on us by Russia and hopefully at that point it will allow us to reopen the trade to Russia.”
