Australia's Sydney Royal Easter Show gives insight into China-Australia wool trade

SYDNEY — The Sydney Royal Easter Show will end its two-week run on Wednesday, with record numbers having flocked to the show at the showground at Sydney's Olympic Park.

The show primarily serves as a showcase for Australian primary industries, and since its first iteration in 1823, has boosted not only awareness for domestic agriculture, but also served as a means of broadcasting the quality of Australian produce around the globe.

The annual show is run by the Royal Agricultural Society (RAS).

RAS President of the New South Wales branch Robert Ryan, who also serves as the chairman of the Federation of Australian Wool Organizations, told Xinhua that he firmly believes the show provides a link between Australian producers and global consumers.

"Well, we held the wool auctions here the other day, we sold just on A$20 million ($15.08 million) worth of wool over two days here, of which, a significant amount will go to China," Ryan said.

Ryan, who has worked within the wool industry in Australia for the last 40 years, stressed the importance of events like the auctions held at the show, as they give the regular public insight into how the sale process of Australian primary goods works, while also allowing the buyers to interact with the broader community as a whole.

"I think it is very important that we have those sorts of things here to make sure people understand how the chain of supply works, and how we sell our products, particularly into countries like China," Ryan said.

Currently, most of the wool produced in Australia is sold at auctions similar to the one that took place at the show, with the majority then making its way to China, according to Ryan.

"Something in the order of 75 percent of Australian wool goes to China for first stage processing, and of that, a significant amount remains in China," Ryan said.

"Nearly 50 percent of that wool stays in China after first stage processing."

With such large amounts of wool making their way to China from Australia, Ryan was emphatic that the ongoing and mutually beneficial trading relationship between the two nations was of vital importance.

"It is very, very important. The Chinese are a significant customer of ours, and currently buy the most, and we are very, very excited about that," he said.