Big miners unfazed by China’s new rules

THE big Australian miners have welcomed China’s move to change inspection rules for iron ore imports despite concerns shipments could be blocked under the new regime.

Brushing aside fears the change may mark a heightening in trade tensions, the mining industry yesterday said China was effectively streamlining the inspection process.

But their upbeat response came amid conflicting commentary on the potential impact of the changes, which take effect on June 1.

China has opted to do away with mandatory inspections of inbound iron ore in favour of sampling and testing shipments at the request of traders or importers.

In one state-run Chinese media outlet, the Global Times, the change was yesterday cast as a threat to Australian producers.

The Global Times quoted Chinese academic Yu Lei, a chief research fellow at the Research Centre for Pacific Island Countries at Liaocheng University, in the Shandong Province, suggesting it was “another implicit warning to Australia”.

“It is associated with how Australia has acted, and a general decline in demand for steel on the global level,” he was quoted as saying.

The media outlet, often seen as a proxy for the views of the Chinese government, explicitly linked the rule changes to trade tensions between Australia and China.

Since the start of last week, China has suspended imports of beef from four Australian abattoirs and slapped import taxes on Australian barley.

Those moves have coincided with a diplomatic dispute over a proposed inquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 virus, which first made headlines globally after an outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

The Global Times also reported, however, that the changes to iron ore inspections would not affect imports from Australia.

It noted the announcement came “amid tensions”, and that “may lead some to believe it targets Australia”.

“Though there is no evidence that the new adjustment will have any negative impact on future iron ore imports from Australia,” it said.

The new customs rules will apply to all iron ore cargoes — not just those from Australia.