(Bloomberg) -- The first Australian coal shipment to China in more than two years is on the verge of docking, providing hard evidence of a major thaw in trade relations between the two countries following months of diplomatic talks.
Most Read from Bloomberg
Meta Asks Many Managers to Get Back to Making Things or Leave
George Santos Gets Into Fight With Mitt Romney at State of the Union Debut
Biden Taunts Xi Days After Shooting Down Chinese Balloon
DeSantis Chides Trump as Republicans' 2024 Presidential Race Heats Up
Russia Will Fail to 'Break' Ukraine, Estonia's Spy Chief Says
Bulk carrier Magic Eclipse was anchored off the southern port city of Zhanjiang on Thursday morning, according to Bloomberg shipping data. It's carrying metallurgical coal mined in Australia and destined for the Chinese market. Zhanjiang is a center for steel production in China.
Australia's government welcomes "any step towards resolving the trade impediments," Trade Minister Don Farrell said in a statement Thursday.
China placed informal restrictions on the use of Australian coal in 2020, after then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for an international investigation into the origins of Covid-19 in Wuhan that year.
The punitive trade actions mandated by Beijing also extended to lucrative agricultural exports including wine, barley and lobsters. China is Australia's largest trading partner.
However, following the election of a center-left Labor government in May, diplomatic relations between Canberra and Beijing steadily improved. Commerce Minister Wang Wentao met with his counterpart Farrell on Monday, for the first bilateral trade talks in more than two years.
The two ministers agreed to "enhance dialogue" with the aim of ensuring "the timely and full resumption of trade."
A second coal shipment from Australia is expected to dock in China later this month, solidifying the renewed trading relationship.
(Updates with trade minister's statement in third paragraph.)
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
Lab-Grown Meat Has a Bigger Problem Than the Lab
Nestlé's $6,000 Peanut Allergy Pill Has Been a Dud
Shell's Grand Plan to Fight Climate Change (and Continue to Cause It)
The Skies Look Gloomy for Big Tech's Cloud Ambitions
The Shopping Tech That Helps Influencers Make Money
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.
