Beef cattle worth $1 billion will be shipped to China every year under a new free trade agreement expected to be announced next week after 10 years of negotiation.

The deal between Australia and China will double Australia’s live-export cattle trade and see up to one million head of cattle sent to the Chinese market each year, according to a report by The Australian.

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Agricultural Minister Barnaby Joyce said the deal was yet to be signed but said the two governments were “very close to finalising the protocols and certification requirements for this important market”.

Live beef cattle from Australia have not been allowed entry into China, despite a booming demand for red meat, because of strains of a virus in northern Australia which the Chinese feared could affect their sheep flock.

Previously, only several thousand Australian dairy cows and beef cows for breeding were sent to China each year.

“It’s a great breakthrough,” education minister Christopher Pyne said.

“This is the kind of thing that happens when you have government that’s focussed on economic outcomes.”