G/STR/Q1/CHN/4  
 
20 April 2016  
(16-2223)  Page: 1/2  
Working Party on State Trading Enterprises  Original: English  
 
STATE TRADING 
QUESTIONS POSED BY AUSTRALIA REGARDING THE NOTIFICATIONS OF CHINA1 
 
 
The following communication, dated 18 April 2016, is being circulated at the request of the Delegation of Australia. 
 
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Australia asks the following questions in relation to China's latest notifications: 
 AGRICULTURE 
 
a) On page 9, under Reply A-C, China states that for a number of commodities, that a portion 
of the respective tariff-rate quota (TRQ) may be allocated to entities other than STEs. Can 
China please identify specifically what are the current conditions non-STEs must follow to 
maintain importer access to the TRQs for wheat, cotton and sugar? 
 b) On page 9, under Reply D, China states that "State trading enterprises are operated 
following market mechanism, with no govern ment interference. State trading enterprises 
determine by themselves the import level of wh eat, maize, rice, sugar, cotton and chemical 
fertilizer according to the quantity of TRQ that they have obtained, and taking into account 
the domestic supply and the prices of both do mestic and international markets among other 
factors." Can China please explain how the allocation is determined between STEs, when more than one STE is awarded an importation TRQ allocation in any given year? 
 
c) Regarding Table I: Statistical Information Imports , can China please clarify why the data 
relating to "Import Quantity of State Trading Enterprises", "Average representative domestic 
sales price", "Average representative domestic sales price" and "Mark-up" is not available? 
Will China be in a position to provid e this data in future notifications? 
 INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS 
 
a) China's notification advises that just five STEs can export coal, and that no annual review of 
qualification is required. Further, quota license administration applies to the export of coal, 
with exports determined by quota size, market supply and demand, prices and other 
factors." On numerous occasions, the notification  also states "State trading enterprises are 
operated following market mechanism, with no government interference." 
 
b) Can China please explain why it restricts the export of coal via a system of STEs and quota 
licenses? Given that it does have export quotas, can China provide details on how it determines the size of quota for each of the fi ve existing STEs? Can Ch ina also advise why, 
under this system, the total quantity of coal ex ported from China has fallen in every year of 
data provided between 2003 and 2014 - from 93. 9 million tons to just 5.6 million tons – a 
period in which domestic production more than doubled? Does China have any plans to 
review how the system for coal exports operates? 
 
                                               
1 G/STR/N/10/CHN, G/STR/N/11/CHN, G/STR/N/ 12/CHN, G/STR/N/13/CHN, G/STR/N/14/CHN, 
G/STR/N/15/CHN. G/STR/Q1/CHN/4 
 
- 2 - 
 
  c) With regard to Table II, can China please advise why it is unable to provide any information 
on coal pricing - whether procurement prices, domestic sales prices or export prices? Will China be able to provide such information in the future? 
 
 
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