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Josephine Ma

Policy protects environment and saves energy, says premier

Restrictions on coke exports have been defended by Premier Wen Jiabao  as necessary to the protect environment and conserve energy.

The European Union has issued an ultimatum to Beijing to abolish the export restrictions by tomorrow and threatened to take the case to the World Trade Organisation for a legal challenge  if it fails to comply.

The price of coke, used in steel production, has gone up significantly during the past two years and the restriction on exports is hurting steelmakers in countries like Japan and the EU.

Mr Wen said the restrictions were not meant to hurt other countries.

'We are not targeting any countries by imposing the restrictions,' Mr Wen said. '[The restrictions] are imposed because the production of coke consumes a great deal of energy and causes serious pollution.

'Therefore we have to control output and how much we export.'

However, the premier acknowledged that the restrictions affected steelmakers in the EU.

'We have taken into consideration that their  steel industry is affected when we control coke exports  and some steel workers are facing the prospect of losing their jobs,' he said.

'Therefore we have ... increased [our] coke exports to EU countries by 1.5 million tonnes.

'I can say we are sincere and [the increase] is like 'sending charcoal in snowy weather',' he said quoting a Chinese idiom which means providing timely help.

The issue of export restrictions was also raised in a meeting between Commerce Minister Bo Xilai  and EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy in Brussels last week. However, it was reported that Mr Bo had failed to ease Mr Lamy's concerns on the issue.



Restrictions on coke exports defended