China’s ban on Aussie coal seriously backfires
China’s savage trade war with Australia has brought a string of industries to their knees – but now, it appears the feud has also spectacularly backfired for Beijing.
In recent weeks, the superpower has rolled out
harsh restrictions on many Australian sectors, including
wine, timber, barley and lobsters.
Aussie coal has also been
unofficially banned since October, with steel mills and power companies apparently told to steer clear.
It has also emerged that more than 60 ships carrying thermal and coking coal are stuck off China’s coast, unable to unload almost $700 million worth of
Australian goods.
Some have been in limbo for months, with the ABC reporting there were suggestions environmental quality problems were being blamed for the delay.
The brutal tactic has caused the price of Australia’s premium hard coking coal to plummet by 22 per cent since October, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison slamming the informal coal ban as a “breach of WTO rules” and “obviously in breach of our own free trade agreement”.
But it turns out the decision is also having serious consequences for the communist state.
POWER SHORTAGES
According to
The Australian, power shortages are increasing in China with millions of citizens resorting to rationing their heating over winter and avoiding using elevators.
“You cannot pretend that bad relations between China and Australia haven’t contributed to this situation,” a Chinese energy insider told the publication.
Last year, Australia supplied more than half of China’s thermal coal imports for power stations and more than 40 per cent of the nation’s imports of coking coal.
According to
Garda World, the world’s largest privately owned security services company which offers business solutions, electricity shortages are expected to affect parts of Hunan, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang provinces until early February 2021.
That could lead to temporary commercial and communications disruptions, including mobile phones, as well as traffic disruptions caused by malfunctioning traffic signals and train delays due to impacted signalling devices or overhead wires.
Supply chains and essential services like ATMs and gas stations could also be disrupted, with officials ordering a number of factories to operate during non-peak hours only.
