China and Australia have signed a free trade agreement which intends to scrap tariffs on products such as dairy, beef, seafood, wine, fruit and vegetables.
With this deal, the Australian farmers will get a tariff-free access to the Chinese market over the coming years.
According to Australian Prime Minister's parliamentary secretary Josh Frydenberg, the present agreement would be worth up to A$18bn over the next few years.
"up to 95% of our exports over time will enter the Chinese market tariff-free."
In 2008, China and New Zealand had signed a similar agreement.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott was quoted by the news agency saying: "It's at least as good for our agriculture as New Zealand got about six or seven years ago - and their dairy exports to China have gone up from under half-a-billion to over three billion."
As per the agreement, the dairy tariff will be phased out over four to eleven years, while beef and sheep farmers will benefit from the abolition of tariffs ranging from 12-25%.
Australian wine will witness tariff cut of 14 to 30% during this period, while restrictive tariffs on a wide range of seafood, including abalone, rock lobster, and southern bluefin tuna will also cease within four years.
Chinese exports to Australia such as clothes, shoes, vehicles and electronics will also be tariff-free.
