澳洲矿商呼吁中国叫停煤炭检测制度

Australian miners are calling on Beijing to suspend a new coal-quality testing regime, which they claim is unfairly blocking cargoes at Chinese ports and increasing costs for exporters at a time when the seaborne coal trade is under severe stress.

澳大利亚矿业公司呼吁中国政府暂停实施一项新的煤炭品质检测制度，它们称，在海运煤炭贸易承受巨大压力之际，这项政策不公平地让货物在中国港口受阻，增加了出口商的成本。

The environmental tests are part of Beijing’s “war on pollution”, and when combined with a trend towards increasing use of domestically produced coal, are leading to a dramatic decline in coal imports by China, the world’s biggest consumer of thermal coal.

这些环保检测是中国政府“向污染宣战”的一部分，再加上国产煤炭使用量上升的趋势，正导致中国煤炭进口大幅下降。中国是全球最大的热煤消费国。

In the five months to the end of May, Chinese coal imports fell 38 per cent to 83.2m tonnes against the same period in 2014. “The main problems relate to the variability in the testing regime, inadequate allowance for commercial remedies and the delays it is subjecting shipping to. There is no doubt each of these factors adds to cost and increases risk,” says Greg Evans, director of coal at the Minerals Council of Australia. “We would be concerned if the measures did not apply to local producers, as this may be contrary to established trade rules.”

在截止今年5月底的5个月里，中国煤炭进口同比下降38%，至8320万吨。澳大利亚矿业协会(Minerals Council of Australia)煤炭主管格雷格•埃文斯(Greg Evans)表示：“主要问题与检测制度反复无常、没有为商业补救留出足够余地以及由此造成的运输延误有关。毫无疑问这些因素全都增加了成本并让风险上升。如果这些检测标准没有应用于国内生产商，我们将会感到担忧，因为这可能违反了现行贸易规则。”

Canberra has made representations to Beijing about the tests, which ban the burning of coal with ash content of more than 16 per cent or sulphur content of more than 1 per cent in populous eastern cities.

澳大利亚政府已经就检测措施向北京方面提出了交涉，后者禁止在人口密集的华东城市燃烧任何煤灰含量超过16%或者含硫量超过1%的煤炭。

Miners invested heavily in thermal coal production over the past decade to meet China’s seemingly insatiable demand for energy. But as Chinese growth cools and Beijing cracks down on pollution and carbon dioxide emissions, the global industry faces a supply glut, which has caused prices to halve from their peak in 2011. Coal is Australia’s second-biggest export, worth about A$37bn in 2014-15. Other big coal exporters, including Indonesia, South Africa and Canada are also being affected by the Chinese testing regime, which was introduced in January.

矿业公司在过去十年里大举投资于热煤生产，以满足中国似乎永远无法满足的能源需求。但随着中国经济增长降温以及治理污染和二氧化碳排放问题，全球煤炭行业面临供应过剩的局面，导致煤价从2011年的最高点下跌一半。煤炭是澳大利亚的第二大出口产品，在2014-15财年价值约370亿澳元。包括印尼、南非和加拿大在内的其他煤炭出口大国也受到中国今年1月出台的检测新政的影响。

Daniel Morgan, analyst at UBS, said the coal-quality tests were part of a wider shift towards protectionist measures in China, which has also recently introduced import tariffs.

瑞银(UBS)分析师丹尼尔•摩根(Daniel Morgan)表示，煤炭品质检测是中国更全面转向保护主义措施的一部分，中国最近还推出了煤炭进口关税。

Additional reporting by Owen Guo in ­Beijing and James Crabtree in Mumbai

郭晨(Owen Guo)北京、詹姆斯•克拉布特里(James Crabtree)孟买补充报道