China resumes timber imports to Australia
On the 18th, Chinese Ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian said at a press conference that Chinese Customs had notified the Australian Minister of Agriculture on the 17th that Australian timber imports would resume on the 18th.
Xiao Qian said that yesterday (May 17), Chinese Customs has officially notified the Australian Minister of Agriculture that from now on, China will resume imports of Australian timber.
China used to be Australia's largest foreign trade country, but because of a series of wrong statements and behaviors by Australia, the relationship between the two countries is about to freeze.
Since November 2020, China has officially implemented the "Australian timber" ban, and Australian timber has been banned since the ban was issued.
The reason is the detection of quarantine pests in logs imported from various places in Australia.
Data shows that in 2022, Australia's timber exports to China were 42.32 million yuan, compared with 4.13 billion yuan in 2019, before the ban.
The huge gap has made Australian timber companies complain.
In order to return to the Chinese market, Australia has repeatedly asked China to return trade and submitted evidence of insecticide spraying of logs to the relevant Chinese customs authorities, but China has still refused.
It wasn't until 2023 that the ban showed signs of loosening.
In March, Chinese customs sent officials in the Australian Department of Agriculture a list of technical rules that must be met to resume timber imports, according to Victor Violante, head of the Australian Forest Products Association.
On May 11, Australian Trade Minister Farrell arrived in Beijing for a three-day visit to China. During the talks, the two sides agreed to restart economic and trade dialogue mechanisms such as the FTA Joint Committee and the High-level Trade Remedy Dialogue.
On May 18, China resumed timber imports from Australia.
As for China's resumption of imports of Australian timber, Australian Trade Minister Farrell said that this is "a great achievement for the Australian forestry sector".
