First Official Shipment of Australian Coal Arrives in China After 2 Years of Trade Bans

Coal operations at the Port of Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia, on Nov. 18, 2015. William West/AFP via Getty Images

The first official shipment of Australian coal has landed in China as Beijing scrambles to “normalise” relations with the new Labor government.

Around 72,000 tonnes of metallurgical coal arrived at Zhanjiang Port on Feb. 8 in the southeast of China, the first in two years after economic sanctions were placed on Australian exports in 2020.