The Chinese Communist Party retaliated by halting imports of Australian coal and copper products in the second half of last year as a result of Australia’s independent investigation into the Communist virus outbreak. But as of now, Australia has seen a huge increase in orders from other countries, while the mainland is under pressure from a shortage of raw materials and rising costs.
The South China Morning Post reported that the mainland stopped importing coking coal and thermal coal from Australia in November 2020, and mainland steel mills switched to importing the same quality coal products at high prices from countries such as the United States, Russia, Canada and Mongolia, or else they would have to use low-quality coal made on the mainland.
Li Min, a coal analyst at Fastmarkets, a price analysis and research firm, said some mainland steel mills and traders are asking the Chinese Communist Party’s customs to allow unloading of coal ships from Australia, but have yet to receive a formal response.
In copper products, the Chinese Communist Party state-owned China Minmetals Group’s Las Bambas copper mining project in Peru was suspended shortly after the Communist Party imposed retaliatory measures on Australia last year. The suspension was due to a road blockade by people in the local town of Velille, who accused MMR of failing to meet claims of social and environmental commitments.
Fastmarkets analysts said that the suspension of Las Bambas is adding to the woes of the continental smelting industry. The mainland’s copper concentrate imports fell by 1.9% in 2020, the first decline since 2011.
And the Chinese Communist Party’s Ministry of Commerce said on Jan. 28 that it would not change its import ban on Australia even if there was supply chain pressure.
China’s retaliation against Australia has not been effective mainland economy, but seriously injured
The Australian government proposed last year that it would independently investigate the CCP virus (New Crown Pneumonia) Epidemic, followed by the CCP’s trade retaliation against Australia by halting imports of coal, copper, Food and many other products. However, orders from other countries to Australia then increased significantly, and the CCP did not achieve its retaliatory purpose.
The current situation of mainland steel mills is that the price of Australian coking coal has increased as Australia has started to sell coal products to other countries, while the supply of coal in the coal mining area of Queensland has decreased due to heavy rains, and mainland mills will pay more if they import Australian coal bought from other countries; in addition, the supply of low-quality coal in mainland China has also decreased due to the epidemic and city closure.
Atilla Widnell, co-founder of Navigate Commodities, said that the supply of high-grade coking coal is crucial for the mainland’s metallurgical coke oven batteries and their output, as well as for the quality of steel products.
In addition, the Chinese Communist Party has stopped importing Australian coal while restricting electricity in many parts of the country to save coal usage. Zhejiang and Hunan have seen factories unable to produce due to power outages, being monitored for electricity consumption, and traffic signals shutting down in the middle of the night in December 2020.
The Australian’s senior financial commentator Robert Gottliebsen wrote on January 18 that the Chinese Communist Party’s plan to punish Australia simply isn’t working, and that in some areas China has more to lose than Australia; worse, some of China’s (Communist) actions make it look foolish in the region.
The Chinese Communist Party’s trade retaliation against Australia also involves products such as wine, barley, lamb and beef, coal, lobster and timber, including import bans and increased import tariffs.
But the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences estimates that the retaliation cost mainland farmers 3.6 billion Australian dollars, 11 times more than the losses suffered by Australian farmers. The losses for barley alone could be as high as A$3.6 billion.
And the Chinese Communist Party’s practices in the mainland economy suffered losses at the same Time, but also triggered the resentment of overseas sectors. For example, after the Chinese Communist Party raised retaliatory tariffs on Australian wine, people from all walks of Life launched a “Drink Australian wine, resist Chinese Communist bullying” action.
Recent Comments