Australian barley exporter challenges Chinese ban

A major Australian barley exporter barred from China in latest trade dispute to hit bilateral relations said on Wednesday Chinese are only w acting on grain shipments dating back to 2019.

China on Tuesday suspended barley imports from CBH Grain Pty. Ltd., Australia’s largest grain-exporting company, saying grain was contaminated.

Chinese authorities have told Australia “to improve its plant export quarantine supervision system,” customs ncy said.

But delay in China's response to a sanitary issue adds weight to suspicions that CBH has become collateral dam in a political dispute over Australia's call for an independent inquiry into coronavirus pandemic.

CBH chief marketing and trading officer Jason Craig said on Wednesday Chinese ban was over weed seeds in barley shipments to China dating back to December last year.

Suspect barley shipments have since been retested and were within tolerance limits agreed between China and Australia for seeds, Craig said.

“This is t about a financial impact. It is basically a reputation impact,” Craig said of ban.

ban has little practical effect because China shut its doors to Australian barley with a tariff wall in May after Australia angered China with calls for a coronavirus inquiry.

Five Australian abattoirs have also been banned from exporting beef and a Chinese inquiry into pricing could cost Australian wine industry its largest export market.

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said Australia used world-leading quality controls on grain exports.

“ government is working with exporter and Chinese authorities to resolve matter,” Littleproud said in a statement.

Since China erected a 80.5% tariff barrier against Australian barley, 300,000 metric tons (330,000 U.S. tons) of crop have been delivered to China to fulfill preexisting orders.

But CBH made its last deliveries to China before ban.

Asked if CBH were a casualty of a political dispute between China and Australia, Craig did t directly answer.

“A number of Australian agricultural commodities have been impacted over last 12 months including wine, beef and of course barley and this has obviously been quite disappointing,” Craig said.