Orica Ltd said on Friday a trade spat between Australia and China will hit its sales to thermal coal mining customers, and flagged pandemic-related disruptions to mining activity in several regions.
China has unofficially banned Australian coal imports since October amid souring relations between the two countries after Canberra called for an international inquiry into the source of COVID-19.
"Trade tension between Australia and China is ongoing and is impacting demand in Orica's higher margin Australian thermal coal market," Orica said.
Orica, the world's top supplier of commercial explosives, forecast demand for its products and services to be about 60 thousand tonnes of ammonium nitrate lower in the first half of fiscal 2021 compared to a year earlier.
The Melbourne-based firm said the COVID-19 pandemic was continuing to impact its activity in Colombia due to temporary and permanent mine closures for its major customers.
It added that disruptions in parts of Europe, Africa and Mexico were more prolonged than expected.
(Reporting by Shriya Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
