AS CHINA plays the hard and fast ball on commodity imports from Australia, WA producers are looking to the boundary for the winning run.
Diplomatic efforts to resolve the trade issues with China have come up short recently but it's not over yet according to WA's two leading agricultural lobby groups, the WAFarmers and the Pastoralists and Graziers' Association of WA.
Planting barley this year was part of the plan for WAFarmers president Rhys Turton until China warned it would restrict imports of the commodity.
Mr Turton opted out of barley, going for another option.
"I had barley ready to go in, then China made its announcement and I decided to plant more wheat and hay instead, just to be safe," Mr Turton said.
He said during the diplomatic effort Australia had provided 10,000 pages of evidence to prove there was no case for dumping our barley but the Chinese government stood firm on its position.
"The industry has appealed the process with China and MOFCOM, (The Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China), and they have had another look at it but haven't changed their position," Mr Turton said.
"We have a contrary opinion.
"The problem is that there are bi-lateral engagement issues on a diplomatic level.
"It's not happening.
"Our ministers are struggling to get appointments with their Chinese counterparts."
Mr Turton said one of the options facing the industry was to take the issue to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for an "independent ruling on it".
"If we progress a case against China and put it to the empire the backlash might be too harsh, but if you don't progress it you send a signal that they can do whatever they want.
"They might continue to put more bans on after but at least you have gone through the official process."
Mr Turton wasn't worried about wheat exports to China being banned as they only took five to 10 per cent of the national crop.
"At this stage there is no official confirmation around that and the speculation in the market is creating uncertainty," he said.
He said demand for wheat across Europe and other countries would continue - especially for WA's quality product.
Mr Turton was hoping the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade would work with State farming organisations and grain industry groups to work through the issues and present the case to the WTO.
"It's quite a tense situation," he said.
"It's quite sensitive.
"Everyone is hoping for a diplomatic outcome but the bi-lateral engagement is impossible at the moment."
PGA president Tony Seabrook said China was "out to do us harm" and we should be prepared to see more products have sanctions placed on them by the regime.
"I've been told that we need to be careful what we say," Mr Seabrook said.
"But why?
"They're out to do us harm.
"It's a 'you do as you are told or we will give you a financial belting' scenario."
Mr Seabrook said people wanted everyone to overlook how China disregarded the treaty with Hong Kong, what happened with the coronavirus, and also the takeover of the disputed islands in the South China Sea.
"Who do they think they are, just because we expressed our opinion?," he said.
Mr Seabrook said when the Hong Kong protests were happening "we should have protested much more loudly" and done more to help the people that opposed the regime.
"We were too frightened to do anything unless they responded with trade sanctions," he said.
"They did it anyway."
Mr Seabrook said accommodating or appeasing an aggressor had never worked out well throughout history - citing the diplomatic attempts to find peace against Adolf Hitler by the British before World War 2.
"You will never appease them," Mr Seabrook said.
"We are a minor country but we have every right to call them out when they have done something wrong."
But he stopped short of saying we needed to retaliate in some way as One Nation has suggested by placing tariffs on Chinese goods entering Australia.
"No tariffs - it's lowering to their standards," Mr Seabrook said.
"We need to walk away and find alternative markets - there's no point having a fight.
"We still have a certain amount of trade going on and we should let that go."
Australia is one of the dominant players in the world barley export market, representing 30-40 per cent of the world's malting barley trade and 20pc of the feed barley trade.
Australian barley is predominantly used in beer making and for animal feed.
Mr Seabrook said Australia had always looked to supply the premium market and if China ceased to be that industry, we should find another.
Japan, Thailand and Vietnam are some of our other largest markets that the industry could seek to expand trade with.
Australian Export Grains Innovation Council (AEGIC) barley markets manager Mary Raynes said Vietnam consumed more than 4.6 billion litres of beer in 2019 and although COVID-19 has had an impact on beer consumption lately, Vietnam was the third largest consumer of beer in Asia and the largest in South East Asia and was tipped to increase its demand.
Ms Raynes said beer production would increase by 2-3 per cent per annum towards 2030, boosting demand for malt and malting barley.
"AEGIC analysis forecasts that Vietnam's malting capacity will increase towards 2030, which will result in malting barley imports jumping to about 330,000mt, nearly double that required in 2019," Ms Raynes said.
She said by 2030, the size of the Indian malting barley market was likely to be between 450,000t and 650,000t.
"The Australian barley industry is working together to ensure Australia is well-placed to capture a strong share of this market," Ms Raynes said.
India has not been a malting barley market option for Australia for 10 years due to a technical phytosanitary restriction.
The Australian grains industry is working together with the Australian Government and Indian Government to work through technical issues and allow market access.
Behind the scenes, AEGIC has been engaging with Indian brewers and maltsters to help provide a pathway for Australian malting barley to enter the Indian market.
A few months ago some barley growers were brushing off concerns about China saying harvest was still months away and things could change before that time.
Now they will have to live with the consequences of going ahead with planting barley or deciding to choose an alternative crop.
Yearlering/Waroona livestock producer and crop grower Peter Stacey said even though he knew China was making a move to ban Australian barley he decided to plant it this year anyway.
"We were still seeding when the issue came up, we continued to plant it but we decided to plant more wheat instead," Mr Stacey said.
He just completed his hay making season and is set to begin harvesting his barley crop in coming days.
"We are getting ready for harvesting the barley and expect about 2 tonne per hectare, or close to that," Mr Stacey said.
He planted Spartacus 1 - which he said was suitable for malt barley.
"We will put it in the bin and sit on it," he said.
"A lot of people are looking for malt barley - it's just a matter of waiting for Christmas and the dust to settle and there'll be people out there that need it and will pay for it."
Mr Stacey is hoping that if he waits for the right time to sell he could see a $50/t profit above the current rate.
He said it was important to keep things in perspective - that North America and China had a stronger trade relationship and someone, usually the smaller player, had to miss out.
