China stopped giving import permits for soybean oil from Argentina as a trade rift between the two nations widened, four executives familiar with the matter said.
The Ministry of Commerce’s computer system for processing permit applications is not functioning and the ministry did not say when it would be operational, said the people, who declined to be named because they are not authorized to speak publicly.
China is the world’s biggest soybean oil buyer.
The central government assumed full control for Argentine soybean oil imports from the provinces on April 1.
The move was in response to Argentina’s anti-dumping investigations on Chinese goods ranging from steel pipes to textiles, a Chinese state-backed trade group said.
An Argentine delegation visiting Beijing this week failed to reach agreement on the matter as China’s government said the import issues are related to oil quality, the people said. China is likely to maintain its curbs in the near term, the executives said.
The government is not restricting Argentine soybean oil imports and the decision to centralize import permit management is to further monitor Argentine oil, a press official at the commerce ministry, who asked not to be named, said in a telephone interview on Saturday.
A separate official at the ministry denied the government had stopped accepting import permit applications in an interview in Beijing yesterday. He said to his knowledge the online system is still working and China’s general position on Argentine soy hasn’t changed, while declining to be identified.
The Argentine embassy was closed and unable to be contacted by phone.
A state-owned company canceled one Argentine cargo this week, weighing about 10,000 tonnes, one of the executives said. Two were redirected to other countries because buyers were concerned they would be rejected when they arrived in China, he said.
Two shipments are expected to arrive in China this month after they departed Argentina before the announcement on March 31 and traders are waiting to see how these cargoes are handled by the authorities, the people said.
Traders will have to rework contracts that have already been signed with Argentine suppliers, one executive said.
Argentina is China’s biggest supplier of soybean oil and China is the Latin American nation’s biggest buyer.
The government of Argentina collected US$600 million in export taxes on the cooking oil sold to China, two of the people said.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TRAINING: The ministry said 87.5 percent of the apprehended Chinese agents were reported by service members they tried to lure into becoming spies Taiwanese organized crime, illegal money lenders, temples and civic groups are complicit in Beijing’s infiltration of the armed forces, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a report yesterday. Retired service members who had been turned to Beijing’s cause mainly relied on those channels to infiltrate the Taiwanese military, according to the report to be submitted to lawmakers ahead of tomorrow’s hearing on Chinese espionage in the military. Chinese intelligence typically used blackmail, Internet-based communications, bribery or debts to loan sharks to leverage active service personnel to do its bidding, it said. China’s main goals are to collect intelligence, and develop a
RSS