China-Australia relations: timber trade felled as imports axed from two more Australian states
- China halted log timber from New South Wales and Western Australia from Wednesday after discovering ‘live forest pests’ in imports
- China banned Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania between October and December on the same grounds of pest infestation
China has banned timber imports from two more Australian states due to pests, meaning the trade has now been cut from six of the country’s seven states as the conflict between the two trading partners continued.
The General Administration of Customs of China halted log timber imports from New South Wales and Western Australia from Wednesday in line with China’s sanitary measures and quarantine laws, according to a notice published on its website.
With most of Australia’s timber exports to China coming from the six states now banned, the latest move means the log timber trade between the two countries has almost completely ceased.
Queensland was the first to be banned on October 31 when Chinese customs said it found a pest, the bark beetle Ips grandicollis, in logs imported from the state. Subsequently, log timber from the other three states were also blocked on the same grounds of pest infestation.
Customs in Tianjin, Nanjing, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Huangpu discovered live forest pests in logs imported from New South Wales and Western Australia
“Recently, customs in Tianjin, Nanjing, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Huangpu discovered live forest pests in logs imported from New South Wales and Western Australia,” the notice said.