Japan: Coking coal imports fall by 15% m-o-m in Aug’21

Japan’s coking coal imports decreased by 14.6% m-o-m to 3.48 mn t in Aug’21 compared with 4.08 mn t in Jul. The country’s met coke imports, however, increased by 40.8% m-o-m to 0.19 mn t as against 0.14 mn t in Jul. Semiconductor shortage, coupled with Covid outbreaks, resulted in subdued auto steel output in Japan, thereby reducing coking coal requirement.