From the Sydney Morning Herald, November 3:
Australian exporters to China are facing a $6 billion cliff after unconfirmed instructions from Chinese customs authorities threatened to ban Australian wine, copper, barley, coal, sugar, timber and lobster from Friday.
The notice, distributed by a customs clearance agent on Tuesday, has not been confirmed by the Chinese government, but its publication was enough to send shares in ASX-listed copper miner Sandfire Resources falling by 8 per cent.
Some Australian wine exporters have been notified by Chinese importers that Australian wine will not be cleared through Chinese customs from this Friday onwards, throwing its $1.2 billion Chinese export industry into turmoil.
Tony Battaglene, chief executive of wine industry group Australian Grape and Wine, said the message was going right across the industry to exporters of all sizes.
"There’s a very consistent message coming out, which is that Friday is D-day, and it’s not just about wine it’s about a whole lot of products," he said.
“The message that we’re hearing is that as of Friday product will not be cleared through customs. So any product arriving before will be okay, but if it arrives after Friday then you won’t be cleared, and essentially the border will be stopped."
The November 6 deadline, if enforced, will be a major escalation in Australia's trade dispute with China. More than 20 tonnes of live lobster, feared dead, are still stuck on the tarmac in airplanes at Shanghai Pudong airport, where they have been since Friday for testing for elevated metal levels.
Queensland timber logs have also been banned after tree-destroying bark beetles were allegedly found in a shipment along with barley from Emerald Grain Australia. The claims have been strongly denied by Australian exporters.
The trade dispute followed Australia's push for an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus in April but has continued to decline after Beijing imposed new national security laws on Hong Kong and advanced its territorial claims on the South China Sea....
....MUCH MORE
Earlier at the SMH:
Australian lobster exports feared latest victim of China tensions
Very related, KABC radio, November 2:
WHO Struck Deal With China on COVID-19 Probe
The World Health Organization struck an agreement with China in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic to allow the communist nation to investigate the origins of the virus, which may have jeopardized the best chance of figuring out what really happened.
The New York Times published a lengthy report Monday that outlined what took place as the WHO was attempting to track down the original source of COVID-19. It’s believed that the pandemic started in Wuhan, China, and was somehow transferred from an animal to a human.
Roughly nine months after WHO officials were on the ground in Beijing to begin investigating how the virus first infected humans, around 47 million people have been sickened and 1.2 million have died.
China would not allow the WHO to conduct its own probe and instead struck a deal to use its own people to investigate. To date, no independent investigation has taken place, according to the Times, in an attempt to unravel the mystery of COVID-19....MORE
If interested here's the NYT story, November 2
In Hunt for Virus Source, W.H.O. Let China Take Charge
Oct. 18
Shipping: "Australia’s coal exports to China may be hit hard amid tensions"
China gets multiple rewards for halting their imports:
1) The environmental community was oohing and aahing over the Chinese CO2 pledge2) China gets to punish Australia for questioning the Covid-19 origin story3) As seen in the post on other industrial commodities, China may not have as strong a demand as it appeared last quarter.
China May Be Slowing Its Mad Rush To Stockpile Industrial Commodities
