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China-Australia Trade: Experts positive despite slight drop in Australian exports

Australian exports to China fell slightly in 2020 to almost $115 billion. Ties between the two sides have been strained of late, over issues such as trade, foreign policy and the pandemic. Some experts remain positive about the latest figures, however. CGTN's Cui Hui'ao has more.

Despite the political tensions between the two countries, data from China's customs regulator shows the total imports from Australia in 2020 were 4 percent less than the year before.

ZHANG LIN Asst. Research Fellow, Inst. of World Economics & Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Science "We see there's a shrink in Australian exports, but it's only related to seven kinds of products, like beef, wine, lobster, cotton and so on. But if we see the whole picture, the biggest export is iron and it's not affected at all."

Iron ore takes up about 60 percent of Australia's total exports to China. Last year, its price doubled from 80 to 160 dollars per ton, stabilizing overall trade. Still, economic ties used to be closer.

Before COVID-19, China bought 38 percent of Australia's exports. That's more than six percent of the country's GDP. That, Professor Zhang says, is due to the complementary nature of the two economies.

ZHANG LIN Asst. Research Fellow, Inst. of World Economics & Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences "Australia has rich resources and is a large exporter of agricultural goods on global markets. China has strong manufacturing power and a huge domestic market. So China has been Australia's largest trading partner over the last ten years."

China is also the number one export destination and a source of imports for Australia. At last year's China International Import Expo, over 150 Australian companies participated. Coming from a single country, that's a very high number.

But Zhang says trade tensions are still brewing.

ZHANG LIN Asst. Research Fellow, Inst. of World Economics & Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences "Australia has launched an appeal to the WTO about China's tariffs on barley. It's also likely to go to the WTO for coal exports as well. This will bring some challenges."

CUI HUI'AO Beijing "But even with these difficulties, there's a silver lining as well. China and Australia, together with thirteen other nations in the Asia Pacific, recently signed RCEP, a regional trading bloc that's the biggest in the world right now, that will provide some impetus for future cooperation. Cui Hui'ao, CGTN, Beijing."

（本文来源于“社科国贸”微信公众号2021年2月24日。）

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