China is bowing to the energy crisis: coal imports from Australia resume
Despite an informal but firmly enforced import ban, China has begun to import Australian coal again, highlighting the severity of the electricity crisis facing the world's second largest economy due to the scarcity of energy sources.
Nick Ristic, chief dry cargo analyst at Braemar ACM Shipbroking, said a first Australian cargo waiting outside a Chinese port was moored last month since the ban went into effect a year ago and changes have been observed in the trade routes. According to the same source, 450,000 tons of coal have since been dumped.
Energy research firm Kpler also said five ships waiting offshore placed 383,000 tons of coal for Australian heat generation in China last month.
The discharged coal could, in theory, have been resold in another country, but industry officials say it was more likely cleared locally for its use.
According to Argus Media, Australia shipped 35 million tons of coal to China in 2020 and nearly 50 million tons in 2018 and 2019. Since November 2020, overall coal exports to Asian countries have been "practically zero". according to Wood Mackenzie.
So in just a few weeks, China imported more than ten times as much Australian coal as it imported in all of 2020 . This is also a sign of the gravity of the Chinese energy crisis which has led to the closure of heavy industrial activities, from an energy point of view, in several provinces.
Of course, just as the Australian coal ban was informal, so too will its reintroduction. The fact is that this move is consistent with the order issued by Beijing to local authorities to "secure energy supplies at any cost".
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The article China is bowing to the energy crisis: coal imports from Australia resume comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/la-cina-si-piega-alla-crisi-energetica-riprendono-le-importazioni-di-carbone-dallaustralia/ on Wed, 06 Oct 2021 09:00:47 +0000.