China lifted its anti-dumping and anti-subsidy tariffs on Australian wine at the end of last month, but industry executives say the market, and domestic consumption, are struggling to recover.

The move had been widely expected this month, and a formal announcement from Chinese commerce authorities shows how much ties with Canberra have improved in the past year.

Restaurants have been forced to scale back as the global economy continues to slow, with inflation, higher costs of living and other factors taking their toll.

China’s imports of Australian coal increased by 3,188 per cent year on year to US$1.34 billion in the first two months of 2024 amid improving relations between Beijing and Canberra.

In a ‘positive’ meeting, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi says both countries should always seek to be partners and respond to global challenges together.

The Chinese minister’s visit will begin on Sunday, and Australian wine companies are getting production lines ready for a resumption of exports to China that is expected to be imminent.

Removing the import taxes would help revive a billion-dollar Australian market and put an end to Beijing’s years-long campaign of punitive trade actions

Earnings at the world’s fourth-largest iron ore miner is forecast to fall by 14 per cent over the next year, the worst pullback compared with peers BHP, Rio Tinto and Vale, according to analyst estimates.

The comments from Australia’s Pacific Minister Pat Conroy come after a news report said that Chinese police will begin working on the island nation of Kiribati.

China’s foreign minister Wang Yi has been invited to visit Australia in late March, anonymous sources say, confirming a continued interest in smoothing over fraught relations.

China has been lifting trade barriers on other Australian goods as relations improve, and data shows winemakers sent almost 2.5 million litres of wine worth US$65.5 million to Hong Kong in December.

China is conducting a review into its tariffs on Australian wine, and expectations are rife that levies will be removed next month, with Treasury Wine Estates planning to reallocate stock from other global markets.

New Zealand and North America now account for more than half of all lobsters imported by China, but Indonesia and Thailand are making gains.

The scale and extent of the impact, however, remains to be seen, even as half of those who availed visas under the Business Innovation and Investment Programme last year were from mainland China and Hong Kong, Juwai IQI’s Daniel Ho says.

Rio Tinto forecasts China – home to the world’s largest steel industry – will hit a peak in consumption, and expects global iron ore demand will rise almost a quarter by 2050.

Hong Kong and mainland China-based buyers are snapping up residential units in Australia despite elevated interest rates and surging home prices Down Under, according to agents.

China has been trying to gain entry into the Asia-Pacific trade pact for two years, and Australia says it will ‘consider China’s application on its merits’ as bilateral ties warm.

Economic equality between men and women costs Australia’s economy US$80 billion a year, according to a report released on Monday by a government task force.

Albanese’s trip comes as China agreed to suspend a festering World Trade Organization dispute sparked by hefty tariffs on Australian wine.

Early results of a study show trade with China has brought economic gains to the average Australian household, giving engagement advocates a boost after a period of fraught bilateral relations.

The curbs have been in place for months, in retaliation against the previous Australian government that had sought an investigation into the origins of Covid-19.

Three separate studies managed by three Australian administrations all came to the same conclusion: the trade relationship with China cannot be practically decoupled or diversified.

Ties between Beijing and Canberra have warmed after a chilly few years, and analysts say this is encouraging more Chinese people to head down under for studies and jobs.