- Australian and Indonesian shipments retreat from late-Aug highs
- US and Canada buck trend, exports reach four-week highs
Global coal exports from six major origins fell 12.1% w-o-w to 17.06 mnt during 29 August-4 September 2026, retreating from 19.4 mnt in the previous week, provisional BigMint vessel-line-up data show.
However, shipments remained 4.7% above 8-14 August levels, suggesting a correction from the late-August surge rather than a broad contraction in seaborne coal trade.
Australia, Indonesia remain dominant despite weekly correction
Australia and Indonesia together shipped 12.26 mnt, accounting for nearly 72% of total exports tracked during the latest week.
Both had built exports strongly through August before correcting in the latest period. Australia’s shipments fell 1.27 mnt w-o-w, while Indonesia declined 0.82 mnt. Those two exporters alone explain most of the overall 2.34 mnt weekly decline.
South Africa also retreated sharply from the previous week’s unusually strong 1.76 mnt.
Four-week trends reveal different trajectories
Looking beyond the weekly comparison reveals a clearer divergence between exporters.
The strongest sustained improvement has come from the US and Canada, while Colombia stands out in the opposite direction.
US exports reached 1.63 mnt, the highest of the four periods, while Canadian shipments climbed steadily to 1.02 mnt.
Colombia, meanwhile, recorded four consecutive weekly declines, with exports falling from 1.35 mnt to 0.86 mnt, a drop of more than one-third.
China leads demand, but India stands out for sourcing diversity
The underlying vessel data show China, Japan and India as the three largest identified destinations during 29 August-4 September.
Excludes shipments where destination was not identified. Calculated from BigMint vessel-line-up data.
China remained heavily supplied by Australia and Indonesia. Australia shipped around 2.20 mnt to China, including both thermal and metallurgical coal, while Indonesia contributed around 1.29 mnt.
Japan’s position was even more closely linked to Australia, which supplied around 2.22 mnt, including substantial thermal and coking coal volumes.
India’s sourcing pattern was markedly more diversified.
India pulls coal from four major origins
Indonesia accounted for almost half of India’s identified receipts, overwhelmingly comprising non-coking coal. Cargoes were spread across Tuticorin, Vizag, Navlakhi, Magdalla, Mangalore, Karaikal and other Indian ports.
South African shipments were also thermal coal, including cargoes destined for Gangavaram, Mangalore and Paradip.
US shipments were more diverse, comprising both non-coking and coking coal, while Australian flows into India were predominantly metallurgical coal.
The numbers therefore distinguish India from China and Japan. China and Japan remain overwhelmingly anchored to Pacific suppliers, while India’s import requirement reaches across both the Pacific and Atlantic basins.
Atlantic exporters diverge
US cargoes demonstrate particularly broad optionality. India received both thermal and coking coal, while other cargoes moved into Europe, North Africa and Latin America.
Canada’s underlying flows were coking coal, with Japan and South Korea prominent alongside European destinations.
Colombia remained much more Atlantic-oriented, with Brazil, Europe and Caribbean destinations dominating identified flows.
BigMint view
The numbers point towards rebalancing rather than weakening global coal trade.
Australia and Indonesia remain dominant, accounting for nearly three-quarters of tracked exports despite their latest weekly correction. US and Canadian shipments, meanwhile, are strengthening, while Colombian exports have fallen steadily.
On the demand side, the more significant signal is India’s position.
Around 2.14 mnt of identified coal shipments moved towards India in the latest week, sourced from Indonesia, the US, South Africa and Australia.
China and Japan remain larger individual markets, but India’s sourcing is considerably more geographically diverse.
With India’s power sector consuming coal heavily and domestic supplies increasingly prioritised towards utilities, this diversity gives Indian buyers access to several marginal sources of seaborne supply.
The trade data therefore position India increasingly as the market where Atlantic and Pacific coal flows converge—making Indian demand and relative delivered prices potentially more important in determining where marginal global cargoes clear.
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