Coal news and updates

Chinese October thermal coal imports hit three year low

Chinese thermal coal imports dropped to a 36-month low of 12.5M tonnes in October, shipping analysts at Arctic in Oslo have reported.

Citing Chinese statistics, analysts said Erik Nikolai Stavseth and Kurt Waldeland said the figures "indicate a 17% decline year-over-year and a 12% fall from September. Year-to-date, China has imported 167M tonnes of thermal coal, which translates to an annual run-rate of 200 million tons - missing our 2014 estimate of 220M tonnes.

"Seaborne coal volumes have been a big disappointment in 2014, weighing on dry bulk earnings. We expect Indian imports to drive seaborne thermal coal volumes going forward, as we anticipate a continued decline in Chinese imports. Coking coal has also disappointed so far in 2014," they said in a daily market report.

The price of coal has fallen to its lowest level for several years, mainly due to weak demand from China, which adds concerns about the recovery of dry bulk markets in 2015, shipping analysts at DNB Markets in Oslo said on 13 November.

"A lack of Chinese demand has pushed coal prices to a multi-year low, adding an element of uncertainty to the improvement we still expect for the dry bulk market in 2015," they said in a market commentary emailed to IHS Maritime.

Source: IHS Maritime 360