Australian businesses urged to make most of "golden age" of trade with China

Prominent Australian business executives have urged all Australian companies to tap into the "golden age" of trade with China.

Speaking at the Australia-China Business Week forum in Melbourne, chief executive of the Swisse vitamin company, Radek Sali, revealed Chinese consumers accounted for half of Swisse's sales despite the company only launching in Shanghai in June.

"I think it's the dawn of a new golden age for goods and services that trade from Australia, and those businesses that are awake to it and put in strategies ... that take advantage of this amazing opportunity will be in a very strong position," Sali said in comments by the Australian media on Thursday.

"There's this (Chinese) middle class that's 300 million strong and growing at a rate of five million every five years; I don't see many other demographics or profiles from other countries that have similar opportunities.

"This is a very exciting time for Australian companies that think China."

Sali said that as the economy adjusted to the post-mining boom, Australia was perfectly positioned to prosper from Chinese consumers.

Peter Nathan, chief executive of a2 milk, said that Chinese demand for premium products was showing no signs of tailing off.

"We see the demand for quality food products from our part of the world as being a long-term trend," Nathan said at the Australia-China Business Forum.

"The Chinese in particular have a thirst for high-quality premium brands that provide real and perceived health benefits so on that basis we see it as a long-term opportunity.

"If you have a premium brand you are in a very different space to a commodity which is subject to the vagaries of the commodity price cycle."

Nathan said he was confident a2's trade with China will not be impacted by new Chinese foreign goods laws. Endit