It’s the only thing keeping Australia afloat. Now China’s moved to gut the iron ore market.
Beijing boasts it has slashed steel exports to Australia by more than 50 per cent. And it insists efforts to “wean” itself from Aussie iron ore are only just beginning.
Government-controlled media this week declared that the “world’s largest steel exporter” was taking “measures to cut output (and) restrict exports”. This would “weigh on Australia’s infrastructure construction and economy,” the Global Times report predicts.
It quotes an unspecified Chinese steel exporter as saying the trend is “set to further accelerate”.
In recent weeks, Beijing has boosted taxes and axed rebates on steel exports. It’s also hiking tariffs on iron-ore imports.
This is in stark contrast to efforts to rein in surging raw materials costs by selling off national stockpiles. Last month, one such release involved selling 20,000 tons of copper, 30,000 tons of zinc, and 50,000 tons of aluminium to “ensure market stability”.
But the politics of iron ore and steel markets are different.
“This will weigh on the economies of a number of countries, including Australia, which relies heavily on steel imports from China,” research director Wang Guoqing from the Beijing Lange Steel Information Research Center is quoted as saying.
“As Australia reboots its economy, demand for steel is set to further jump with the rollout of more housing and infrastructure construction. That, combined with dwindling imports from China, will only widen the supply gap, which no other country could fill.”
Source : https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/china-slashes-steel-exports-to-australia-by-50-per-cent-to-wean-itself-off-nations-iron-ore-industry/