BEIJING: China will suspend all imports of coal from North Korea for the rest of the year, Beijing said Saturday, depriving Pyongyang of a crucial source of foreign exchange following its latest missile test.
“(China) will temporarily stop its imports of coal from North Korea for the rest of this year (including coal for which customs applications have been made but not yet processed),” the commerce ministry said in a statement posted on its website.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported last week that a shipment of North Korean coal worth around $1 million was rejected at Wenzhou port on China’s eastern coast.
The decision came less than a week after North Korea’s latest missile test, as tensions escalate over the reclusive state’s defiance of UN resolutions.
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un has been trying to strengthen his grip on power in the face of growing international pressure over his country’s nuclear and missile programs.
The communiqué from Beijing came as investigators in Malaysia probe the shock assassination of Kim’s half-brother on Monday.
The UN Security Council sharply castigated Pyongyang on Monday for the missile test a day earlier, describing it as a “grave violation” of UN resolutions and threatening “further significant measures.”
On Wednesday Pyongyang defended the missile launch and slammed the UN Security Council condemnation.
The rocket launch was the first since US President Donald Trump came to power and was seen as a challenge to the new American leader, who has vowed a strong response to the provocation.
Trump has repeatedly called out China for doing too little to help stop North Korea’s nuclear program.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday used his first meeting with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi to urge Beijing “to use all available tools to moderate North Korea’s destabilizing behavior.”
Pyongyang is barred under UN resolutions from carrying out ballistic missile launches or nuclear tests.
North Korea blasted off a series of missiles and conducted two nuclear tests in 2016 in its quest to develop a weapons system capable of hitting the US mainland.
The latest rocket — said by Pyongyang to be able to carry a nuclear warhead — flew east for about 500 kilometers (310 miles) before falling into the Sea of Japan (East Sea), South Korea’s defense ministry said.
The Security Council has imposed 6 sets of sanctions since Pyongyang first tested an atomic device in 2006.
Beijing traditionally ensured that UN Security Council resolutions on sanctions against Pyongyang included humanitarian exemptions, and had continued to purchase huge amounts of North Korean coal — $101 million worth in October alone.
But the latest resolution, passed in December, had no such clause and Beijing suspended purchases of coal from the North — for three weeks to Dec. 31.
China suspends coal imports from N. Korea
China suspends coal imports from N. Korea
Oil prices rise sharply after attacks in Middle East disrupt global energy supply
- Traders were betting the supply of oil from Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East would slow or grind to a halt.
- Attacks throughout the region have restricted countries’ ability to export oil to the rest of the world
NEW YORK: Oil prices rose sharply Monday as US and Israeli attacks on Iran and retaliatory strikes against Israel and US military installations around the Gulf sent disruptions through the global energy supply chain.
Traders were betting the supply of oil from Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East would slow or grind to a halt. Attacks throughout the region, including on two vessels traveling through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Arabian Gulf, have restricted countries’ ability to export oil to the rest of the world. Prolonged attacks would likely result in higher prices for crude oil and gasoline, according to energy experts.
West Texas Intermediate, the light, sweet crude oil produced in the United States, was selling for about $72 a barrel early Monday, up around 7.3 percent from its trading price of about $67 on Friday, according to data from CME group.
A barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, was trading at $78.55 per barrel early Monday, according to FactSet, up 7.8 percent from its trading price of $72.87 on Friday, which had been a seven-month high at the time.
Higher global energy prices could lead to consumers paying more for gasoline at the pump and shelling out more for groceries and other goods, at a time when many are already feeling the impacts of elevated inflation.
Roughly 15 million barrels of crude oil per day — about 20 percent of the world’s oil — are shipped through the Strait of Hormuz, making it the world’s most critical oil chokepoint, according to Rystad Energy. Tankers traveling through the strait, which is bordered in the north by Iran, carry oil and gas from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE and Iran.
Iran had temporarily shut down parts of the strait in mid-February for what it said was a military drill, which led oil prices to jump about 6 percent higher in the days that followed.
Against that backdrop, eight countries that are part of the OPEC+ oil cartel announced they would boost production of crude Sunday. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, in a meeting planned before the war began, said it would increase production by 206,000 barrels per day in April, which was more than analysts had been expecting. The countries boosting output include Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman.
“Roughly one-fifth of global oil supply passes through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery for world trade, meaning markets are more concerned with whether barrels can move than with spare capacity on paper,” said Jorge León, Rystad’s senior vice president and head of geopolitical analysis, in an email. “If flows through the Gulf are constrained, additional production will provide limited immediate relief, making access to export routes far more important than headline output targets.”
Iran exports roughly 1.6 million barrels of oil a day, mostly to China, which may need to look elsewhere for supply if Iran’s exports are disrupted, another factor that could increase energy prices.
