Despite the repeated deterioration in relations between China and Australia, China imported several times more wheat from Australia than in the same period last year. The latest Australian data shows that in February, the total export value of Australian grains hit the highest single-month record.
According to the South China Morning Post, China imported 479.3% more wheat from Australia in the first two months of this year than in the same period last year. This comes at a Time when Russia, a major wheat producer, is experiencing dry weather and has begun to restrict exports in order to curb rising domestic Food prices.
The latest data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on March 24 showed that Australia’s grain exports were worth A$1.288 billion in February, the highest monthly export value on record.
Relations between China and Australia have repeatedly deteriorated as a result of economic retaliation by the Chinese Communist Party against Australia. Australian Ambassador to China Graham Fletcher criticized Beijing as an “unreliable” and “vindictive” trading partner in a March 25 briefing by the Australia-China Chamber of Commerce.
While Australia’s $20 billion worth of goods have been subjected to various restrictions by the Chinese Communist Party, China has so far continued to import large quantities of Australian wheat. Last December, Australian grain exporters exported 600,000 tonnes of wheat to China, the highest volume ever exported from Australia to any country in a single month, and exports in the first two months of this year were only slightly lower than at the end of last year.
Despite economic retaliation from the Chinese Communist Party and last year’s drought, Australian grain growers had a surprisingly bumper crop this year and, thanks to high grain prices, one of their most lucrative harvests on record.
The Communist Party of China (CPC) touted total wheat-based summer grain production as a record high in July last year; however, by August, the CPC Bureau of Grain and Material Reserves admitted that wheat purchases in the main production areas were down by 9.38 million tons, or nearly 20 percent year-on-year. In response to this contradictory set of data, some analysts believe that the CCP’s propaganda of increased production is a fabrication and that farmers no longer have surplus grain in their hands.
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