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| BEIJING — The Chinese government will suspend its tariff on imported coal starting on Sunday, a decision that will likely benefit Russia at a time when its coal exports to Europe are being phased out over its invasion of Ukraine. |
| China has refrained from criticizing Russia’s invasion, and its Ministry of Foreign Affairs and propaganda agencies have echoed many of Russia’s recent criticisms of the United States and its allies. But China has also said that it would continue “normal trade” with Russia and has been wary of actively helping Russia circumvent Western sanctions. |
| Three weeks ago, the European Union approved a ban on Russian coal, phasing in the measure over four months. The bloc imports about half of its coal from Russia, trade worth four billion euros a year. |
| China’s coal imports from Russia reached nearly seven billion euros last year and fall into an unusual category. China’s imports of Russian coal doubled in the second half of last year, when China had a temporary coal shortage. China rapidly expanded its state-owned coal mines late last year and early this year to resolve the shortage. |
| So a big question in global coal markets has been whether China will decide that its imports late last year represent “normal trade,” or whether China’s imports of Russian coal will recede to previous levels. |
| Chinese customs data for the first three months of this year show that China’s coal imports from Russia did fall back considerably from their peaks last autumn. But the tonnage of imports is still a little higher than a year ago. |
| Alex Turnbull, a commodities analyst at Keshik Capital, a fund manager in Singapore, said that Chinese coal importers have encountered difficulties in recent weeks in finding ship owners willing to let their vessels be used to carry Russian coal. But a new cross-border rail line is scheduled to open as soon as next month and could expand China’s ability to buy Russian coal. |
| Russia is now China’s second-largest source of imported coal, after Indonesia. China halted purchases of Australian coal 17 months ago after Australia, previously the second-largest supplier to China after Indonesia, called for an international investigation into how Covid-19 began spreading in Wuhan in late 2019. |
| Many power plants in southern China’s Guangdong Province are essentially locked into buying Indonesian coal because they were designed for maximum efficiency with Indonesia’s grades of coal, Mr. Turnbull said. The price of coal makes a difference for power plants farther north, which choose from among a wider range of suppliers inside China and overseas. |
| China currently collects a tariff of 3 to 6 percent on imported coal, depending on the quality of the coal. Canceling the tariff will make imported coal cheaper and more competitive with coal mined in China. |
| The Customs Tariff Commission of China’s cabinet said in a brief statement that it was suspending the tariff to improve China’s energy security. |
| The tariff suspension will eliminate the tariff from Sunday until March 31 next year, when it will be reconsidered. |
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