Chinese Coal Imports by Source

Coal

Indonesia was the single largest supplier of Chinese steam coal imports (including anthracite and lignite) in January-February at 28.3 Mt, down 5.6 Mt year-on-year, according to IHS, although volumes at the start of 2020 were likely boosted by the late reporting of cargoes from the end of the previous year. By contrast, receipts from Russia edged up slightly to 4.9 Mt. China imported no Australian steam coal in January-February compared with 11.4 Mt in the year-ago period. Total steam coal imports from all sources in the first two months of the year were down 18.1 Mt at 34.8 Mt. Meanwhile, Chinese coking coal imports more than halved on an annual basis in the first two months of the year, down 8.8 Mt to 6.3 Mt. The decline was driven by a 10.4 Mt fall in shipments from Australia to zero. However, overland imports from Mongolia grew by 1.2 Mt to 3.9 Mt and shipments from the US rose by 0.5 Mt to 0.6 Mt.