Coal news and updates

Turkish May thermal coal imports rise 31% to 2.076 mil mt

Turkey's bituminous thermal coal imports in May jumped 31% year on year to 2.076 million, a 1% rise month on month, according to data from the Turkish Statistical Institute published Wednesday.

Total May sales for imported thermal coal were $165.1 million, equivalent to a monthly May average price of $79.48/mt, compared with April's $163.2 million and its average price of $79.08/mt.

Monthly Russian and South African thermal coal shipments in May recovered from April's recent lows, with Turkish Russian imports at 702,781 mt, 30% higher month on month and a 9% rise on the year, and South African deliveries at 544,955 mt, up 24% on-year and 37% on-month.

The May monthly average sales price of Russian thermal coal imports into Turkey was $96.39/mt, higher than April's $93.34/mt, and South African supplies averaged $69.34/mt, down from $74.57/mt during the previous month.

Colombian thermal coal shipments rose 24% year on year to 800,047 mt in May, but fell 18% from April.

The monthly average cost of Colombian thermal coal was $70.68/mt, steady from the previous month's $70.64/mt.

Mozambique shipped another cargo in May, this time for 19,556 mt of thermal coal, after the first shipment from the country since March 2013 entered Turkey in April.

The Mozambican coal shipment cost around $112/mt, stable on the month, according to TUIK data.

Platts assessed the May monthly average of its CIF Turkey 6,000 kcal/kg NAR 90-day price at $64.50/mt, $1 lower month on month.

The weekly CIF Turkey 6,000 kcal/kg NAR price was assessed at $64/mt Friday, steady week on week.

COKING COAL IMPORTS DOWN

Total coking coal imports in May dropped 18% year on year to 593,634 mt, down 12% from April's four-month high of 672,404 mt, TUIK data showed.

The US once more shipped most of the coking coal in May at 257,573 mt, followed by Australia at 163,634 mt and Indonesia at 161,800 mt.

Turkey's April anthracite imports were 71,544 mt, 79% higher month on month.

source: http://www.platts.com