October 10, 2013

West Australian Premier Colin Barnett is ''very optimistic'' that hundreds of thousands of live cattle export to China will materialise with the new trade agreement.

A memorandum of understanding has been signed by Barnett and Xia Baolong, party secretary of Zhejiang - West Australia's (WA) sister province in eastern China.

Barnett said he only mentioned the idea in June when he last visited China and stressed that the deal was still in its early stages.

"This would be a market as big, if not bigger, than the Indonesian market for our industry. There's no doubt there is a massive demand for meat, for protein, and for high quality and safe meat," he said.

Under the proposal, cattle would be transported live from WA to a new abattoir built in Zhejiang and the meat would be distributed from there.

Barnett said he hoped that over the next six months approvals would be granted in Australia and China including checks on health standards. Private sector investment options would also be investigated over that time, he said.

Opposition leader Mark McGowan said he would wait and see whether the signing would actually result in an increase in trade.