Australia to earn $1.5bn a year from China cattle exports

China represents a major new live cattle market for Australia

Australia is a step closer to exporting live cattle to China, opening a new market for its farmers.

Agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce said Australia had agreed to health protocols that would be finalised by his Chinese counterpart.

This comes after Indonesia slashed live cattle imports from Australia.

Mr Joyce said the trade in live cattle between Australia and China could be worth up to $A2bn ($1.5bn, £950m) each year.

Now that Australia had agreed on the health conditions, farmers could prepare to export cattle once China made the deal official, Mr Joyce said in a statement.

"I was very pleased today to sign the agreement of health conditions for trade of Australian feeder and slaughter cattle to China—now it's over to my counterpart, Minister Zhi Shuping, to sign on the dotted line and finalise the agreement between our two nations," Mr Joyce said.

"Over the past five years we've had a significant trade in breeder cattle with China, primarily for dairy heifers.

"Now, I'm pleased to announce we are a step closer to the commencement in trade in live slaughter and feeder cattle to China," he said.

Feeder cattle are those mature enough to be fattened in a feed lot before slaughter.

'Major breakthrough'

Earlier this month, Australian cattle producers were told Indonesia would only allow 50,000 head of cattle to be imported into the country between July and September, compared with an expected 200,000 permits for that quarter.

The Australian Livestock Exporters Council said that decision was both a surprise and a disappointment.

The Council's chief executive, Alison Penfold, said the deal with China was a "major breakthrough".

"Australia will be the first country to export feeder and slaughter cattle to China," Ms Penfold said in a statement.

In recent years, the live cattle industry has been rocked by a series of scandals about poor treatment of the animals in some of the countries Australia exports to.