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Seaborne World Trade in steam coal grows by 3% y-o-y - German Coal Importer Association

Global trade with hard coal, at 1,272m tones in 2014, increased by 35m tonnes or 3% in comparison with the previous year.

According to association,  in 2014, seaborne trade increased by 45m tonnes, or around 4%, to 1,187m tonnes, while German’s domestic trade declined by 10m tonnes, or 12%, to 85m tonnes. The steam coal market grew by a modest 1.7% or 15m tonnes to a total of 878 m tonnes.

According to estimates by the IEA, global demand for coal in the next few years is going to increase by an average of 2.1% per year. Our calculations for the first three months of 2015 indicate that the global seaborne market for hard coal has grown by just under 3%, or 8m tonnes, compared with the same period last year. Reality and the forecast, then, are close to each other in this instance.

Coking coal market grows by 11%

VDKi further noted that, In 2014, global production of crude steel reached a new all-time high of 1,661m tonnes. The increase, which took place mainly in the Middle East (+ 7.7%) and in Asia (+ 1.4%), was relatively small compared with 2013 at 1.9% or 19m tonnes. Production in Europe and North America, though, stagnated while in Russia, South America and Australia it even declined. The pig iron production decisive for the consumption of coking coal, PCI coal and coke increased by slightly by 13m tonnes, or 1%, to 1,181m tonnes. The coking coal market grew correspondingly by 30m tonnes, or 11%, to 309m tonnes.

The supplier structure has not changed fundamentally, said German Coal Importer Association. Although Australia's market share underwent a relative decline of one percentage point to 60%, in absolute terms the country increased its exports by 15m tonnes.

The USA and Canada, on the other hand, lost market shares and now have a joint market share of 27% - VDKi

source: http://coalspot.com