Australian trade minister to visit China to secure fuel during Iran war crunch

Australia’s trade minister will visit China in an effort to shore up fuel supplies that have run short this year because of bottlenecks in the Strait of Hormuz during the US–Israeli war in Iran.Australian Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell told a press conference that he would travel to China to meet Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, after a stop in Japan on Monday.“Very much the topic of the day will be how do we continue to ensure reliable fuel supplies into this country,” Farrell said, according to an emailed transcript of the press conference on Friday. “And of course, particularly in the area of jet fuel, China is very important in that equation.”China’s jet fuel exports fell sharply in the first month of the Iran war, according to trade data provider Kpler, leaving Australia facing a supply crunch and forcing it to seek alternative sellers. The decline followed severe disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical artery for global energy flows.But Beijing had agreed to work with Australian businesses on shipments, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said last month after talks in Beijing with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.“The Australian government’s increased travel to China underscores a strategy to diversify fuel sources, maintain flight services and control the domestic market while bolstering national reserves,” said Kannan Govindan, director of the Centre for Sustainable Operations and Resilient Supply Chains at Adelaide University in Australia.“This shift allows Chinese energy firms to secure dominant long-term supply contracts across the Asia-Pacific region,” he added.