According to state media, China is getting ready to receive its first official shipment of Australian coal in more than two years.
According to the government-run newspaper Global Times, around 72,000 tons of coking coal from Australia are anticipated to arrive in Zhanjiang Port in south China’s Guangdong Province on February 8.
It is one of the most important developments in the warming of ties between the two countries since the election of the Albanese Labor government, which came about as a result of China’s boycott of Australian goods after a severe dispute with the previous Morrison administration.
On January 24, the coal cargo departed from HPCT dock in North Queensland.
According to the Global Times, the coking coal will be supplied to a business that makes steel.
The cargo is small by coal export standards, and the Global Times cautioned that “additional Chinese enterprises will need time to recover trust in the Australian side.”
As China wants to diversify its suppliers, it is expected to start buying more Australian coking and thermal coal as long as the Albanese administration continues on the right side of Beijing.
Three significant Chinese power companies are reportedly granted the go-ahead to purchase Australian coal.
According to a buyer who spoke to the Global Times, “there should be more coal arriving to China in the remaining months of the year from countries like Australia, especially in March, since demand was triggered when steel companies restarted output following the Spring Festival vacations.”
However, the trade may take some time to resume where it left off due to the high price of coal at the moment and the weak demand in China.
Australia sold coal to China for around $13.7 billion in 2019.
However, the abrupt refusal to accept Australian coal in 2020 forced coal boats to do a U-turn while at sea.
Australia diversified in the meanwhile by locating other foreign customers.
Australia’s single most valuable export, coal, which includes coking and thermal coal, is expected to earn $132 billion in 2022–2023, surpassing iron ore.
The main sources of the 63.838 million tons of coking coal that China purchased in 2022 were Mongolia, Russia, and Canada.
The Albanese administration vowed to approach China ties differently than the Morrison administration, which ran afoul of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The disagreement sprang from a number of factors, including Australia’s demand that the origins of Covid be looked into and Canberra’s sterner rhetorical warnings about China’s intentions in the area and its territorial claims in the South China Sea.
When Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Xi met unexpectedly on the margins of the G20 Summit in Bali last November, it marked a significant turning point.
It was the first time in six years that national leaders from Australia and China had met in this manner.
»China bought Australian coal after nearly two years«