China has effectively ended its ban on Australian coal producers that has been a centrepiece of a diplomatic dispute lasting more than two years to cause “economic pain,” news.com.au, an Australian-based website reported. One of the coal producers, New Hope Corporation confirmed that several Chinese buyers had approached them in the past month to purchase their coal. At the beginning of the year 2020 or since Covid-19 broke out, China imposed a number of bans on Australian products including iron ore, wine, and beef after then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for an investigation into the origins of coronavirus. Although the coal ban was never official, for the last two years China has shadow-banned the Australian resource, putting it on an invisible blacklist. The move was taken by China to bring Australia’s economy to kneed but now, Beijing has lifted the ban, and the dynamics changed, reported news.com.au. Unconfirmed reports first emerged in early January that China was relaxing its coal ban. The Chinese Communist Party reportedly allowed four of its major importers, including the country’s biggest steelmaker, Baowu, to buy up Australian coal in the first week of January.
