Senate Estimates Trade officials move to clarify whether Australian coal has been banned from China’s Dalian port
Trade officials are urgently trying to clarify if Australian coal has been banned from a key Chinese port.
Trade officials are urgently trying to clarify if Australian coal has been banned from a key Chinese port but believe the move from Beijing would be to manage local demand rather than a snub of the Morrison government.
Australian officials conceded the report from Reuters that a port in China’s Dalian had banned Australian coal already had “an impact” on currency markets.
“I know this is a very serious issue...there are market implications in terms of currency,” DFAT’s head of North Asia Graham Fletcher said.
“Today there is quite some confusion about what exactly is happening...the uncertainty is having an impact”.
“Our assumption is that it is managing China’s own domestic supply issues,” Mr Fletcher said.
Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said it would be a “leap” to suggest China was punishing Australia for Defence Minister Christopher Pyne’s criticisms of its actions in the South China Sea.
“We don’t see evidence to support and it is unhelpful commentary when it is made,” Senator Birmingham said.
“I’ve noticed a trend in my relatively short time in the job that when some these administrative issues come up people do seem to jump to conclusions sometimes.
“I would always urge against that. I think there can often be other administrative reasons, other issue of domestic policy and the like that may be factors as well.”
Senator Birmingham called on China to honour its commitments to Canberra in the bilateral free trade deal.
“China is a valued partner of Australia and we trust that our free trade agreement commitments to each other will continue to be honoured.”
Mr Fletcher said China periodically limited coal imports to protect local suppliers in when there is low demand.
He said “some other measures” may have been taken over the last month but this had only been aired through “unsourced and unconfirmed reports”.
“We are talking to authorities in Beijing ..and we are not hearing that from officials who ought to be in a position in Beijing to confirm that.
“Just in the last hour or two it is clear the uncertainty out there is having a real impact and as a matter of urgency the ambassador is seeking to establish exactly what is happening.
“We have had discussions in the last week or so but we are renewing those with urgency today so that we can satisfy ourselves as to what is going on.”
