Coal news and updates

Japan imported 5.2mn t of coking coal in January, down by 15.3pc from the same month a year earlier and by 15.1pc from December, according to finance ministry data.

 

Coking coal imports from Australia in January fell by 11.1pc from a year ago and by 15.1pc on the month to 2.37mn t.

 

Maintenance and bad weather at Queensland ports, including the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal, in late December lengthened delays in shipments to Japan and other destinations.

 

Japanese imports of Canadian coking coal in January were 591,840t in January, down by 3.3pc from the same month a year ago but higher by 50.1pc from December. Total imports from Russia were 206,473t in January, down by 14.7pc from a year ago and by 30.1pc from last month.

 

Japan imported 736,718t of US coking coal in January, a drop of 2.4pc on the year and down by 12.3pc from December. Shipments from Indonesia and Colombia last month were 1.18mn t and 109,701t, respectively.

 

The Argus assessment for premium hard low-volatile coking coal averaged $198.05/t fob Australia in January, down from $224.78/t in December.

 

Japanese imports of metallurgical coke in January fell by 71pc from the same month last year to 98,700t, nearly all of which arrived from China. But January met coke imports were up by 11.3pc from December.

 

Source: Argus Media