Beijing says Australia needs Chinese wind towers, urges end to tariff

afr.com:

Chinese trade officials say the country’s manufacturers are vital in preventing an annual shortfall of 270 wind towers in Australia as they urge the federal government to scrap anti-dumping duties.

China’s Ministry of Commerce, in a submission to the Anti-Dumping Commission, said Chinese wind towers made from large steel plates were crucial for Australia’s economic growth and its renewable energy ambitions, and should not be handicapped by duties as high as 10.9 per cent.

China’s Ministry of Commerce says without importing wind towers made in China, Australia will have a shortfall of about 270 annually.  AAP

It comes as a step-up in output by China’s steel mills in the past few weeks underpinned a jump in iron ore prices of almost 20 per cent since the start of September. Prices reached about $US120 a tonne, a six-month high, before softening slightly.

Demand for steel is rising in green energy infrastructure in particular, and analysts say the lift in steel output is also a sign of Chinese policymakers stimulating the economy more broadly.

Keppel Prince Engineering, based at Portland in south-western Victoria, applied in May for a continuation of anti-dumping measures that have been in place since 2014. An Anti-Dumping Commission spokesman said the rates of duty ranged between 1.2 per cent and 10.9 per cent.

Beijing imposed punishing tariffs on Australian wine in late 2020, which largely ended wine exports to China worth $1.3 billion annually. But Chinese state news agency Xinhua last week reported that the Ministry of Commerce wanted a “packaged solution” to the wine anti-dumping case by linking it to restrictions on wind towers, railway wheels and stainless-steel sinks. The Albanese government has rejected this