China has been buying more goods from Australia this year even as their trade spat shows no signs of abating.The value of Australia’s exports to China has jumped 24% from a year ago, to reach over $180 billion Australian dollars ($135 billion) as of the latest August data, according to research firm Oxford Economics.Monthly data shows goods to China hit a record monthly high of 19.4 billion Australian dollars in July – a surge of 72% as compared with a year ago, according to Reuters.Relations between the two countries deteriorated sharply last year after Australia supported a call for a global inquiry into China’s handling of its initial Covid-19 outbreak.Since then, those tensions have filtered into Chinese sanctions on Australian goods. That has ranged from levying tariffs to imposing other bans and restrictions — affecting Australian goods including barley, wine, beef, cotton and coal. “Australia’s increasingly fractious trading relationship with China has been a key downside risk to the outlook over the past year,” said Sean Langcake, principal economist at Oxford Economics. “Trade barriers on certain products from Australia have been imposed and have steadily escalated as diplomatic tensions rise.”cnbc.com