Australia: Coal exports witness a 6% decrease in CY ’20

Australia’s overall coal exports decrease by 6% in CY ’20 to 367.37 mn t almost entirely driven by non-coking coal exports which moved down by 5% on a y-o-y basis and stood at 199.5 mn t in CY ‘2. The key reason for this was China’s ban on Australian coal imports amidst escalated political tensions between the countries. This further made Australia divert its coal exports to other countries like India and Vietnam. Indian cement sector that otherwise prefers buying South African coal steadily shifted to Australian coal because of cheaper rate. Vietnamese utilities were also seen to be quite active in Australian coal market last year to take advantage of this cost differential.