South Korean Coal Imports Down 1% in CY16

South Korea’s yearly coal Imports declined marginally by 1% to 141.42 MnT in CY16.Besides monthly imports increased by 17% in Dec’16.

South Korea, world’s fourth largest coal importer, received around 141.42 MnT coal in CY16, down by 1% as compared to 143.35 MnT in CY15. Although monthly imports have increased on monthly basis and have hit year high value of 14.10 MnT in Dec’16.

Country’s coal imports have also risen fallen by 7% Y-o-Y as compared with 13.19 MnT in Dec’15. According to the trade statistics released by South Korean Customs.

Grade-wise Coal Imports in CY16:
Out of the total imports, the country receives more than 85% bituminous coal from the different origins and rest quantity comprises Anthracite, Coke and Pet coke every month.

South Korea received 93.82 MnT Non-Coking coal during CY16, down by merely 0.3% compared with previous year, coking coal comprises 24.65 MnT, followed by Anthracite 9.06 MnT and Pet coke 1.34 MnT while other grades coal accounts for 12.55 MnT in CY16.

Anthracite and Pet coke imports have shown improvement over the year while all other grades imports have fallen on the yearly basis.

Source: South Korean customs
Quantity in MnT

Major Coal Exporters in CY16:
Top 3 coal exporting nations were Australia, Indonesia followed by Russia. Together they supplied more than 80% of the coal to South Korea.

Australia, the largest exporter of coal to South Korea, supplied 53.31 MnT coal during CY16 down by 13% compared with CY15.

Indonesia, the second-largest coal exporter to South Korea, shipped about 40.91 MnT coal during CY16 increased by 4%, compared with CY15.

Russia, the third largest coal exporter to South Korea, exported around 25.28 MnT coal in CY16, up by 8% compared with previous year.