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With Prices Rising, Is the Chinese Aussie Coal Embargo About to Crack?

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Guest essay by Eric Worrall

h/t observa; As Chinese producers beg their government for relief, China has offered for “humanitarian” reasons to allow Australian coal ships to offload in Chinese ports.

Did China just blink on its Aussie coal ban? ASX energy shares in the spotlight

Bernd Struben

As we’re enjoying a comfortably warm summer in Australia – it’s 37 degrees outside my window in the Adelaide Hills today – spare a thought for the many shivering Chinese people. Not to mention some of China’s steel makers, watching the quality of their product deteriorate.

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As the Wall Street Journal reports: “China’s central government made the embargo official at a mid-December meeting with major Chinese electricity producers, who are big buyers of thermal coal.”

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As Atilla Widnell, managing director of Navigate Commodities, told the South China Morning Post: “China’s punitive economic measures are causing self-inflicted wounds.”

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Did Beijing just blink?

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China plans to allow some stranded Australian coal shipments to unload despite ongoing curbs on imports, a move aimed at showing goodwill to countries with seafarers stuck on the vessels, a person familiar with the situation said.

The measure doesn’t mean China is loosening its ban on Australian coal imports and it’s uncertain if the deliveries will be cleared by customs…

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Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-au/money/markets/did-china-just-blink-on-its-aussie-coal-ban-asx-energy-shares-in-the-spotlight/ar-BB1dAopP

I suspect this entire sorry episode is going to prove a serious and possibly fatal blow to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s leadership.

As Australia shrugs off the impact of Chinese embargoes, Xi Jinping’s overreach and arrogance is causing Chinese industries to haemorrhage millions, perhaps billions of dollars.

China, for all their talk of green energy, is still utterly dependent on carbon intensive coal, including coal imports from Australia. China’s humiliating failed attempt to pretend otherwise has only served to highlight China’s weakness.

via Watts Up With That?

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February 12, 2021 at 12:26PM