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Will Chinese economy matter to South Australia? The answer from South Australia Premier Jay Weatherill is "absolutely."
Weatherill told Xinhua in a recent interview that he expects to see "massive demands" for food and other products that the growing number of middle-class people in China would buy.
"What happened is we'll continue to have massive demands for the commodities which fuelled the growth of China, things like iron ore and coal still remain important. It just won't be growing at a massive rate as it grew in the past seven or eight years. What we'll grow through is the Chinese consumer market," Weatherill said.
"China's consumer market will have massive demand for food and other products which are the elements that we grow. So maybe not much growth of iron ore and coal but massive growth in elements like copper, sort of elements of the middle class as they are always in electronic goods, etc," he said.
He also mentioned the expected "enormous" demand for food and also services, "as the Chinese consumer seeks to consume, with a whole question of the aging population, new services, new urban forms that will drive the opportunities of the service providers" in Australia.
With the signing of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA), South Australia is looking forward to more exports to the Chinese market. However, language and cultural barriers need to be taken into account when Australian businesses venture into the huge market in China.
Weatherill said the state government is seeking to overcome those barriers by building a very strong relationship between the two sides.
"We enjoy a very strong sister relationship with (China's) Shandong Province, which will be 30 years next year. We have regular trade missions," he said.
Weatherill said South Australia, famous for its clean environment and top quality food, is picturing itself more of a niche market, the more premium market.
"The middle class has demand on high quality food, the value-add, not just a container load of wheat. To sell lower volume but higher value of goods, South Australia is transforming raw commodities into food, which can then be sold at a much higher price and meet a premium market.
"The demand of China for food is enormous. It will take a lot of Australians to meet their needs. We've got a particular niche we are pursuing."
Weatherill said the state is also leading Australia in aged care services.
"South Australia is the center of aged care policy innovation of the nation ... There has been a lot of policy innovation, partly because we have an aged population, the issue is presenting itself here more acutely. We have come up with some fascinating new models," he said. Enditem
