The coal import policy coupled with market changes has always attracted attention from all parties. Recently, all parties have been paying attention to the direction of Australian coal, especially some coking coal users, and the official has given a formal response.

Australia should promote the stable development of bilateral economic and trade relations

According to the news on the official website of the State Council Information Office on February 24, the State Council Information Office held a press conference on the same day to introduce the situation and answer reporters’ questions. What needs to happen or what needs to be done by Australia before China will stop banning the import of Australian coal and at the same time cancel the ban on the export of other Australian products to China?

Wang Shouwen, Deputy Minister of Commerce and Deputy International Trade Representative, replied that the economic and trade relations between China and Australia should be said to have a very good foundation. There is a free trade agreement between the two countries. China has been the largest in Australia in the past 12 years. Trading partners are also Australia's largest export market and source of imports. In bilateral economic and trade relations, Australia has a surplus in goods trade and a surplus in service trade. China's investment in Australia is more than Australia's investment in China. It can be said that China-Australia economic and trade relations have brought huge benefits to Australia. From this background, it can be seen that Australia is a beneficiary of Sino-Australian trade.

Let's take last year as an example. Wang Shouwen continued to introduce that due to the epidemic, the world economy is in recession, and Australia's global trade is declining, but its trade with China is increasing. Australia's exports to the world have fallen by 8%, but exports to China have only fallen by less than 3%. You can see that the China-Australia bilateral economic and trade relationship has brought benefits to Australia, and of course it also brought benefits to China. This is a mutually beneficial and win-win relationship. This economic and trade relationship is worthy of both cherishment and attention.

The key point is here, Wang Shouwen introduced, but it is a pity that some people in Australia have stigmatized bilateral economic and trade relations, investment projects and some normal economic and trade cooperation, and have taken some restrictive and even discriminatory measures. , Damaging the atmosphere of bilateral economic and trade cooperation. We always believe that a healthy and stable China-Australia relationship is very beneficial to economic and trade cooperation and is in the common interests of both parties. We hope that Australia can do more things that are conducive to increasing trust and cooperation, and do more things that are in line with the spirit of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, and promote the healthy and stable development of bilateral economic and trade relations.

Judging from this answer, Australia can continue to benefit from China-Australia trade if it has changed. However, from an overall point of view, it is expected that the amount of imported coal will not increase significantly, and the amount of imported coal will basically remain at around 300 million tons in 2021 and beyond. Editor/Xu Shengpeng