Australian Coal Exports Slip by 3% in Jul’16

Australia, one of the largest Coking coal exporters across the globe witnessed a decline in its monthly coal exports during Jul’16 and stood at 32.1 MnT.

Australian coal exports — both metallurgical and thermal stood at 32.1 MnT in Jul’16 with a downfall of 3% compared to Jun’16. While, coal exports also recorded a marginal fall of 0.2% in Jul’16 from 33.2 MnT in Jul’15 Y-o-Y, as per the latest updates by Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Out of the total exports, the country shipped more than 50% Steam coal to different destinations and rest quantity comprises Hard coking, Semi Soft coking, other metallurgical and Anthracite coal.

Quantity in MnT

For the first seven months of the year (Jan-Jul’16), the country has shipped total quantity of around 221 MnT coal worldwide, down by 0.2% from 221.5 MnT at the same period last year.

Australian coal shipments have been rising constantly in 2016 on the wake of increased crude steel production and coal demand globally. Collectively Coking coal prices are also hitting up in the global market as driven by sudden rise in Chinese coal demand. Current offers for premium coking coal is assessed at USD 214/MT, FoB for Oct’16 shipments.

However, Indian demand have also boosted due to rising crude steel capacity by Indian steel giants for the fiscal. Trade in Jul’16 stood at 4 MnT in India which was at 4.4 MnT in Jun’16. India’s monthly average exports exceeding more than 4 MnT in the running year from 3.5 MnT in 2015 (Jan-Jun).

Major Coal Export Destinations in Jul’16
The country has been exporting more than 80% of coal to its top 5 export destinations every month such as Japan (33%), China (22%), Korea (12%), India (9%) and Taipei (8%).

Japan is one of the largest buyers of Australian coal as the country’s whole steel industry is largely dependent on Australian imported grades. Out of the total export in the year, the country shipped about 30% of coal to Japan.

Japan took about 10.6 MnT coal in Jul’16; up by 9% compared to last month. While, yearly import fell by 5%, which was 11.2 MnT in Jul’15.

China, the second-largest coal importer during the month, imported about 7.1 MnT coal in Jul’16, with a fall of 8% compared to 7.7 MnT in Jun’16. The nation’s yearly import recorded a significant growth of 14%, which was 6.22 MnT in Jul’15.

Korea, the third-largest coal importer from Australia in Jul’16, imported about 3.8 MnT coal during the month, recorded a growth in shipments as the country’s import was 3.6 MnT in Jun’16. While, import moved down by 24% Y-o-Y.