China has been headline news for Australian beef for more than a decade now as the phenomenal potential the economic giant presents has come up against testing geopolitical tensions.
China is the world's top beef importer by volume and Australia is China's largest supplier of chilled beef.
That it is an attractive market for Australia's high-quality beef offerings that presents enormous growth potential is an understatement.
However, it also comes with challenges that span many agricultural sectors and there have been plenty of warnings about the need to avoid any degree of reliance on China as a customer.
A number of processing plants in Australia remain suspended from supplying China on technical grounds.
Some exporters have turned their attention away from the world's second most populous country as a result, indicating the unreliability is not worth the lucrativeness of the market.
Australian Meat Industry Council chief executive officer Patrick Hutchinson makes the point that even with plants suspended, China has remained in Australia's top four beef markets and has taken large volumes of premium product.
He said access issues occurred with beef markets all over the world, for all sorts of reasons, and that at the end of the day, exporters would look to supply markets and customers where they saw the most value.
In China, beef comprises a relatively small proportion of dietary protein compared to fish, pork and poultry. However, factors like rising incomes, a pork shortage due to African Swine Fever and greater interest in nutrition to boost immunity against COVID-19 have helped increase beef consumption, Meat & Livestock Australia's 2024 market snapshots say.
Analysts believe this momentum will continue, with national per capita beef consumption in China forecast to rise.
South American countries dominate China's direct frozen beef import market, particularly Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, which have benefited from weaker currencies and lower beef prices, MLA says.
Australia's potential is in the high-end space.
"China's retail sales of beef have grown significantly in recent years, accelerated by ASF-driven higher pork prices and increased at-home consumption during the pandemic," the MLA snapshot report said.
"As a consequence, demand for chilled beef, including from Australia, has been strong. There has also been an expansion of meal kits and value-added products, offering consumers more ease and convenience to prepare quality beef meals at home.
"Affluent urbanites are driving growth in branded beef products that not only offer the important basics of safety and quality, but also deliver more experiential consumption experiences via elements relating to provenance and production methods."
Saul Eslake, Corinna Economic Advisory, said there was no question about the potential for Australian beef in China and exporters would always weigh that up against the risks.
"One of the biggest longer-term risks we don't think about is in the event of military action, such as China invading Taiwan, Australia could be requested by allies to cease exports of a range of products from iron ore to beef," he said.
"To be fair, China doesn't seem to have any territorial aspirations other than Taiwan, so that risk is not likely to play out in the immediate future but it is another reason to ask has beef diversified away from China enough."
Mr Eslake said the country that rivals China for population, India, might have potential that Australian beef has not looked closely enough at.
"There are two million Muslims in India who eat beef - that's a big market," he said.