Almost at the same instant, meat from four Australian abattoirs mysteriously got tied up in paperwork woes.

Everyone on both sides officially denied the beef and barley barney had anything to do with the separate spat over Australia's push for an international investigation into the coronavirus crisis.

Nevertheless, the news combined with rumours China had drawn up a hit list of other Australian products sent shivers down the spines of exporters.

The decidedly undiplomatic language being thrown around by Chinese diplomats while our trade minister couldn't get his counterpart on the phone won't have helped either.

Plus on Thursday, China reportedly announced changes to its rules for iron ore inspections in a way that has the potential to block imports.

It's hard to overstate the importance of China to Australia as a trading partner.

In 2018/19, two-way trade with the Asian giant was worth $235 billion.

That was more than a quarter of Australia's total trade, and more than we did with all of Europe, the US, Canada and South American nations combined.

One in five international students in Australia is from China, it's our largest source of tourists and it takes the lion's share of our iron ore.

Federal ministers have been doing their best to calm the waters while insisting Australia will hold its ground on important matters to protect its national interests.

But they're also continuing work to expand other markets.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is fond of saying Australia never got rich selling things to itself (predecessor Malcolm Turnbull said this too, and attributed the saying to former New Zealand leader John Key).

Trade is so important to Australian business that during this period where international travel has all but ground to a halt, the government has been playing matchmaker between airlines and primary producers so that planes full of lobster, salmon, lamb and eggs can jet to overseas markets.

Morrison has also joked that any trade minister who stands too long next to an Australian politician will find themselves signing a free trade deal before they know it.

Some exporters will be able to divert their products elsewhere if needed but it takes time to establish the relationships and can cost more to rejig supply lines.

Labor's trade spokeswoman Madeleine King says India and Indonesia are the most obvious markets for Australia to expand into.

They're predicted to move into the world's top four economies by 2050 - joining China and the US - and are democracies.

On education, India is close behind China, with nearly one in five foreign students arriving from the subcontinent.

But overall, it is our eighth largest trading partner, exchanging only about $30 billion worth of goods a year.

Indonesia doesn't even make the top 10.

It emerged this week that further top-level talks between Morrison and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will soon be rescheduled for a video conference, although a date is yet to be set.

Morrison was to have gone there in January but postponed while dealing with the bushfire crisis and then coronavirus put an end to international travel.

King says it's vital that Australia be in a position to take advantage of the massive growth expected in both India and Indonesia.

But she points out diversification of trade markets can't happen overnight - it takes decades to develop the kind of deep ties needed.

"Diversification is much easier in good times so it's going to be really tough now while we can't travel and talk easily with counterparts," she tells AAP.

"Nonetheless, we can't shy away from the great challenge of diversification."

There is potential for a quicker expansion in Vietnam and Singapore, where Australia already has pretty strong trading ties, if things with China continue to be tough in the short term.

But longer-term, King believes China will and should continue to be a major trading partner with Australia.

We just need to find a way out of the deep freeze.

Australian Associated Press