Australian Coking Coal Exports Plunge 42.48% in Apr’17 M-o-M on Debbie Cyclone Impact

Coking Coal exports from Australia declined remarkably by 42.48% in Apr’17 in comparison with the exports in Mar’17, data gathered by CoalMint Research from vessel line ups shows.

In Apr’17, a notably lower Coking Coal volume of 8.53 MnT was exported from Australia. In the previous month, Mar’17, the exports were significantly higher at 14.83 MnT.

The shrinkage in the exports in Apr’17 was the fallout of the supply disruption caused by the Debbie cyclone, which had hit the Queensland region of Australia late Mar’17. As a matter of fact, the Queensland region caters to more than 50% of the world’s Coking Coal demand.

Subsequent to the occurrence of the cyclone, the rail lines connecting coal mines to ports were damaged, disrupting Coking Coal exports. It took nearly the entire month of Apr’17 for the railway systems to be fully repaired. The last line to resume operations was the Goonyella line, which restarted on 26Apr’17.

A destination country wise export assessment for Apr’17, compared with that in Mar’17, shows that Coking Coal exports to China dropped by around 71%, while, the exports to India and Japan declined by 50% and 30.6% respectively.

COUNTRY-WISE COKING COAL EXPORTS FROM AUSTRALIA IN APR’17

Source: CoalMint Research

Apparently, exports from the Australian ports also declined during Apr’17 against the exports in the previous month. However, the Brisbane port was an exception, as the export volume was low.

Source: CoalMint Research