China-Australia relations: Canberra lashes out at China’s barley duties at WTO

Australia made a stinging critique of China’s anti-dumping duties on its barley exports at the World Trade Organization (WTO) this week

Canberra claims that China’s investigation is flawed, but Australia has yet to launch a formal dispute at the Geneva institution

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Australian WTO officials have criticised China’s anti-dumping duties on its barley exports. Photo: Reuters

Published: 12:23pm, 30 Oct 2020Updated: 10:20pm, 30 Oct 2020

Australia lashed out at China’s anti-dumping duties on its barley exports in a statement made at the World Trade Organization (WTO) this week, Geneva sources said.

The statement was made at a meeting of the WTO’s Committee on Anti-Dumping Practices on Wednesday.

Australian WTO officials criticised China’s investigation into whether Australia was dumping cheap barley on the market, and claimed that a flawed probe led to a miscalculation of the duties charged.

China has been engaged in an increasingly tense trade dispute with Australia over the course of this year, with duties, embargoes and tariffs imposed on a range of Australian products, including barley, coal, wine, cotton and beef.

After an 18 month investigation, China’s Ministry of Commerce ruled in May that Australian barley was being both undervalued and subsidised. This was followed by a combined 80.5 per cent tariff being imposed, consisting of 73.6 per cent in anti-dumping duties and 6.9 per cent in countervailing duties.

Australia claimed the investigation had been “improperly initiated”, that the product involved had not been properly identified, and that Chinese authorities did not acknowledge receipt of information supplied by Australian producers, nor did it carry out verification visits.

In response, China’s WTO representatives simply said Australia’s concerns had been noted.