Australia's wheat exports to China jumped nearly 500% in the first two months of the year, customs data released this week showed, despite continued tensions between the two governments over alleged human rights violations by Chinese authorities in Xinjiang.
Wheat purchases from Australia rose 479.3% in January and February 2021 compared with the same period a year earlier as an unusually large harvest in the land down under combatted grain shortages in other regions and helped meet demand for pig feed among China's domestic pork producers.
"Wheat and meslin reached a monthly high, aligning with reports of Australia's second largest wheat crop on record," the Australian Bureau of Statistics said in a report.
The bulk of this crop will go to China, the world's largest pork producer, as part of Australia's record-breaking $990 million worth of cereal exports in February alone.
Chinese pig herds grew 31% in 2020 after declining more than a third in 2019 due to disease. By mid-2021, pork production should be fully back in business, the national customs agency said in December.
Feeding this growing herd has been expensive as grain shortages in Europe and Russia prompted price hikes in wheat, corn and soybeans around the world.
"Food production enterprises and farmers also tend to stockpile and are reluctant to sell, which also drives an increase in food prices," ministry of commerce spokesman Gao Feng said.
He attributed this instability to multiple factors, including the ongoing pandemic and insect swarms, which have "increased the volatility of international food prices."
The needs of Chinese farmers for wheat override months of political tensions between the two countries over allegations of human rights abuses and foreign meddling in internal affairs.
Matters reached a peak in February, when it was revealed that more than 23,000 liters (over 6,000 U.S. gallons) of Australian wine were turned away at the border in January.
China accounted for more than half of Australia's wine exports in the spring of 2020 - this number has now dwindled to less than 1% after months of retaliatory tariffs and trade barriers.
