Did China just blink on its Aussie coal ban? ASX energy shares in the spotlight

As we’re enjoying a comfortably warm summer in Australia – it’s 37 degrees outside my window in the Adelaide Hills today – spare a thought for the many shivering Chinese people. Not to mention some of China’s steel makers, watching the quality of their product deteriorate.

Just as much of Australia’s summer temperatures are coming in below average, so too are China’s winter temperatures. Which comes at an inopportune time for Chinese authorities, who imposed an unofficial ban on Australian thermal and coking coal in late September. A ban that’s now official.

As the Wall Street Journal reports: “China’s central government made the embargo official at a mid-December meeting with major Chinese electricity…