There is an ancient Chinese proverb that goes something like 'distant water won't quench your immediate thirst', but in the case of China, this ain't necessarily so.

Rapid economic progress has brought prosperity to many sectors of Chinese society and helped the emergence of upper and middle classes. While this might only be a small proportion of people, with a population of around 1.3 billion and counting it's no small number and there's no question that China is providing new consumers for goods Chairman Mao would have surely considered 'bourgeois luxuries'.

When I travelled in China ten years ago, I witnessed the emerging love of cheese and yoghurt (albeit the sickly sweet, strawberry-flavoured drinking variety that friends seemed to offer me at every opportunity) and these trends have continued in line with China's rapidly developing economy. Many Chinese people have developed and refined their tastes for Western indulgences, and Australia, as one of the closest western-style economies to this new frontier, is playing a large part in feeding this appetite.

China's dairy industry is forecast to double in size, to nearly $US20 billion by 2010. This has been driven both by a desire for western-style food and a government focus on education about the various food groups. The nutritional pyramid is now a much more common sight in Chinese classrooms.

Australians are finding a part to play in this developing market. We are selling live dairy cattle and offering our technological and consulting expertise in dairy production. The Australian Dairy Association has been actively marketing Australian know-how, as government TV and outdoor advertising for all things dairy ramp up.

Austrade reports that from July 2007 to January 2008, exports of dairy, honey and eggs rose to over $80.7 million – almost double the year-ago comparable period.

Outside the dairy industry, 12-month meat exports also rose to $49.4 million, up from $30.7 million in the previous year, consisting mostly of beef, with Australia holding no agreements with China for the export of pork or poultry. Feedstock for China's animal herds, as it tries to improve the quality of domestic meat products, is also a booming area. This includes grains, pellets, food supplements and even vitamins and veterinary supplies.

Trade missions from Australia now regularly travel to China – the most recent being from Meat and Livestock Australia and another delegation from the Australian Citrus Growers. Gift giving is a major part of Chinese culture and fruit is a popular choice for visits to someone's home, along with chocolates, biscuits, nuts and alcohol – another in-demand item.

Last year China overtook Japan as the world's greatest consumer of Australian wine. A sharp increase in the amount of Australian wine being exported to China comes as a result of a partnership between Austrade and the Australian Wine & Brandy Corporation. In the past year, China imported 12 million litres of Australian wine, at a cost of around $56 million, around 80 per cent of which was red. But with China only just starting to develop a palate for Australian wine, and already representing two per cent of our overall wine exports, there's a huge amount of growth still to come for Australian wine producers.

Australian trade reps in China are also working on developing import protocols for table grapes, apples, summer fruit and cherries, as well as improving existing agreements. This would benefit both countries, with opposing hemispheres providing seasonal supply.

In 2007 China imported $8.9 billion in iron ore from Australia. While the food and live animal export market isn't a threat to the boon Chinese industrialisation is providing to Australia's resources market, $324 million in food and live animal export sales is nothing to be sniffed at – and as China's wealth and upper classes continue to grow, so too will the trimmings of its success, and opportunities for Australian exporters and experts to capitalise on them.