Senior Australian officials have issued stark warnings about the future of the nation’s smelting sector, accusing China of deliberately undercutting global markets in a way that could leave Australia vulnerable in a national emergency.
South Australia’s Treasurer and Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis said China’s pricing tactics were destabilising the industry, arguing that Beijing was paying inflated prices for raw materials, discounting processing charges, and subsidising manufacturing a combination he described as impossible for Australian operators to compete with.
Koutsantonis said these practices were part of China’s broader strategy to secure dominance over critical minerals such as antimony, lead and zinc all essential to Australia’s smelting operations. He warned that relying on a single foreign supplier for materials used in defence manufacturing could put the country at risk.
“In an emergency, if we needed these critical metals to harden our armour or strengthen our military capability and we had to buy all of it from one country, you would leave Australia very, very exposed,” he said.
Tasmanian Treasurer Eric Abetz echoed the concerns, saying China’s approach was making it increasingly difficult for Western smelters to survive. He noted that China’s willingness to purchase ore at spot prices and then sell finished products at subsidised rates was distorting global markets.
“That makes it very difficult for smelters in the Western world, who operate on a private enterprise system, to effectively compete,” Abetz said.
The warnings come amid growing scrutiny of Australia’s critical minerals supply chain and the strategic importance of maintaining domestic processing capability.
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