China opens coal market - Brief Article

Business Asia, Dec 13, 1999

Australia's coal exporters will benefit from moves by China to liberalise its coal sector, a new ABARE report has found.

The report, "Supplying Coal to South East China: Impacts of China's Market Liberalisation", found China could import more than 50 million tonnes of coal by 2010.

ABARE executive director Dr Brian Fisher said if the current subsidies and tariffs in the coal sector were removed, prices of China's domestic coal would rise and imports to the southern coast would become more competitive.

He said this would then represent significant opportunities for competitive coal exporters, such as Australia, without being a threat to China's domestic industry.

"Increased imports of high quality coal could also contribute to improved environmental outcomes in China," he said.