Australia’s trade surplus saw a huge drop due to trade tensions with China, while Vietnam and Malaysia took steps to counter dumping of Chinese imports.
Australia’s exports to China, its largest trading partner, slumped 10 percent in November, dropping by A$1.2 billion as China took some restrictive measures on Australian imports, according to data released Wednesday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. As a result, Australia’s trade surplus fell to A$1.9 billion in November, well below the A$4.7 billion recorded in October.
The report noted that this is the first time since November 2018 that Australia’s trade surplus has fallen to a level below A$2 billion.
Meanwhile, imports from China increased 11 percent in November to nearly A$900 million.
China recently increased tariffs on Australian imports of agricultural products such as barley, beef, lobster and wine, and called a halt to Australian coal imports.
China’s commodity exports to Southeast Asian countries have also gradually increased during this period, leaving local manufacturing industries badly hit.
Media reported that Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade decided on Dec. 28 to impose anti-dumping duties on 16 types of cold-rolled steel imports from China, ranging from 4.43 percent to 25.22 percent for five years. Announcing the decision on its website, Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade said that dumped steel products imported from China would cause great harm to the country’s steel manufacturing industry.
Malaysia’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry also announced the imposition of anti-dumping tariff sanctions on imports of aluminized galvanized non-alloy plate flat steel from China, South Korea and Vietnam, with anti-dumping tariffs ranging from 2.18% to 18.88% for China, 9.98% to 34.94% for South Korea and 3.06% to 37.14% for Vietnam.
Malaysia’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry said a previous anti-dumping investigation into steel imports from these countries, conducted on behalf of the Malaysian steel industry, found that “this commodity is being imported into Malaysia at a lower selling price than the alleged country.
The decision came into effect on December 12 and runs until December 11, 2025.
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