China orders traders to halt key Australian commodity imports – Bloomberg

Dhwani Mehta FXStreet

China has ordered commodities traders to halt imports of products including coal, barley, copper ore and concentrate, sugar, timber, wine and lobster from Australia, Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the situation.

The sources said that the traders are yet to receive an official order about the halt in purchases. However, the authorities have already communicated the same to the traders verbally.

Australia's biggest export to China, iron-ore, is not to be included in the trading halt, the sources said.

On Monday, Australian Agriculture Minister David Littleproud confirmed the halt of rock lobster exports to its biggest market of China after Beijing imposed new customs inspections on the live seafood last Friday.

Market reaction

AUD/USD is unfazed by the above headlines, recovering losses while trading above 0.7050. The aussie fell to 0.7028 lows after the RBA cut rates to a record low of 0.10% and expanded its QE program by AUD100 billion.

Author

Dhwani Mehta

FXStreet

Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.

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