The announcement, made last Friday, was welcomed by the Government and peak bodies including the National Farmers' Federation (NFF).

Since May 2020, China's duties on Australian barley have effectively blocked exports to that market, worth about $916 million in 2018-19.

The Federal Government acknowledged and thanked industry and affected businesses for their support and patience throughout the World Trade Organization (WTO) tariff process.

In April this year, Australia announced a pathway agreed with China to temporarily suspend its WTO dispute while China conducted an expedited review of the measures. The removal of these duties means that Australia will now discontinue legal proceedings at the WTO.

NFF chief executive, Tony Mahar, said scrapping the tariffs is welcome news for some 23,000 Australian grain producers who have been impacted by the tariffs that were imposed in 2020.

"These tariffs significantly impacted the barley trade between Australia and China which previously accounted for approximately 60-70 per cent of barley exports," Mahar said.
"The Australian farming sector was always of the view there was no justification for these duties and that it was in both countries' best interest for all trade impediments to be removed."

Mahar said the announcement is a positive outcome and another step in the right direction to resuming full trade with an important market for Australian agriculture.
"This development is in the long-term interests of Australia and China and highlights the positive effect of meaningful collaboration.

"Fortunately, Australia's other existing trade agreements such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) supported Australian farmers to export barley into other markets such as Mexico.

"We will continue to work closely with the Australian Government to support full normalisation of our trade with China, including removal of restrictions on Australian wine and seafood."