Despite threats China might block Australian wheat amid a bitter trade and political row, exports of the grain to the economic giant are booming.
Australian grain producers shipped 600,000 tonnes of wheat to China last December, according to analysts S&P Global Platts.
The figure marked the largest-ever monthly wheat export total from Australia to any single country.
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It was followed by another 110,000 tonnes scheduled for export to China last month.
The 600,000 tonne shipment - worth A$248 million, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data - was booked last September, before China flagged subjecting Australian wheat to closer inspections.
Indonesia and Vietnam each imported 265,000 tonnes of Australian wheat in December.
Australia is poised to produce its second-largest wheat crop on record in 2020-21.
GrainCorp, the major grain handler in New South Wales, has reported a huge increase in wheat receivals. The company took 8.4 million tonnes as of mid-January, compared with only 500,000 tonnes at the same time last year.
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Chinese demand for Australian wheat is being driven by lower prices and the decision by Russia - a major global grain producer - to introduce an export tax last year.
It resulted in making Russian wheat "increasingly uncompetitive in the East Asian market," S&P Global Platts said.
Wheat is used to make basic foodstuffs in China such as noodles, dumplings, buns and pastries.
Last year a range of Australian exports were subjected to trade sanctions amid a row between Canberra and Beijing over Australia's push for an international inquiry into the origins of COVID-19 in China.
Australian barley producers were slapped with punitive tariffs, leading the Federal Government to take China to the International Trade Organisation.
Australian producers of meat, coal, honey, fruit, pharmaceutical and cotton were also targeted by China.
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