South Korea: Coal Imports Up 11% Y-o-Y in Jul’17

South Korea is the fourth-largest coal importer in the world. The country’s monthly import has witnessed growth on the yearly basis, while the import volume in Jul’17 has remained almost unchanged from that in Jun’17.

According to the customs data, South Korean coal import has increased 11% Y-o-Y to 12.72 MnT in Jul’17 compared with 11.50 MnT in Jul’16. While on the monthly basis, imports in Jul’17 were almost unchanged in comparison with the coal import of 11.75 MnT during Jun’17.

During the first 7 months of CY17 (Jan’17-Jul’17), South Korea has recorded an increase of 9% in total coal imports to 86.88 MnT compared with 79.66 MnT during Jan’16-Jul’16.

The country had imported 141.42 MnT coal in CY16.

Grade-wise Coal Imports:
Non-coking coal imports have increased 2% M-o-M to 8.83 MnT in Jul’17, compared with 8.68 MnT in Jun’17. Imports of Anthracite and Pet Coke have also shown growth during the month.

While, Imports of Met Coke remained constant during the month at 0.03 MnT. Coking coal imports have fallen 17% on the month to 2.05 MnT in Jul’17.

Source: South Korean Customs
Quantity in MnT

Major Coal Exporters:
Australia remained the top coal exporter to South Korea during Jul’17, followed by Indonesia, Russia, Canada, and USA.

Australian coal exports has surged 31% M-o-M to 5.23 MnT in Jul’17, also exports in Jul’17 were 17% higher on the year compared with 4.47 MnT in Jul’16.

Indonesia, the second-largest coal exporter, had supplied 2.86 MnT coal in Jul’17.Exports were down by 3% on the month compared with 2.95 MnT in Jun’17.

Russia, third-largest coal importer, has recorded exports of 2.45 MnT in Jul’17. The country has witnessed a fall in exports both on the monthly and yearly basis compared with exports of 2.85 MnT in Jun’17 and 2.49 MnT in Jul’16 respectively.