Australian businesses set to benefit from new Alibaba agreement
Austrade - 6 September 2016
Chinese consumers will find it easier to buy fresh Australian produce and a wider range of other
Australian goods and services following a ground-breaking agreement between Austrade and
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.
The new agreement will create a dedicated promotional channel for Australian companies on
youku.com, a video sharing website with 500 million active users.
Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull today joined Alibaba Executive Chairman Jack Ma
to witness the signing of the agreement.
Austrade’s Senior Trade Commissioner in China, Michael Clifton, said the strategic cooperation
would help introduce new brands to Alibaba's 434 million online shoppers.
"It will allow more Chinese consumers to enjoy easy access to a wider variety of Australia’s
premium products and fresh produce,” Mr Clifton said.
“Online delivery of imported fresh food in China is becoming increasingly viable as a result of
improvements in last-mile cold chain logistics.
“This partnership also opens the door to future cooperation in some of Australia’s priority
industries, including emerging digital service delivery areas such as e-health, financial services,
sporting event management and assisting innovative startup companies.”
Today’s signing will build on the already substantial cooperation between China's largest online
retailer of imported products and Australia's trade and investment promotion agency.
Australia currently ranks fourth in sales volume on Tmall Global, Alibaba’s international online
platform that allows direct sales to Chinese consumers, behind the United States, Japan and
Korea.
The majority of Australian products sold online in China are vitamins and supplements, dairy
items, breakfast cereals and beauty products.
“Access to online distribution channels complements the benefits granted to business by the
China-Australia Free Trade Agreement, which came into force on 20 December 2015, reducing
tariffs and further strengthening business cooperation between Australia and China,” Mr Clifton
said.
Maggie Zhou, Managing Director, Alibaba Group in Australia and New Zealand, said the
agreement would help more businesses access new markets through Alibaba’s platforms.
"Alibaba Group plans to open an office in Melbourne later this year and the agreement signed
with Austrade today represents a landmark moment for Australian companies, particularly
SMEs looking to global trade for growth.
“Alibaba will be providing a dedicated helpdesk to source Australian products, together with
export development programs to be delivered in cooperation with Austrade,” Ms Zhou said.
More information on e-commerce in China and the opportunities it can
provide: www.austrade.gov.au/e-commerce