Coal news and updates

Russian Coal Exports: 177.2 Million Tonnes Exported With the EU and China the Two Biggest Markets

China and the EU were the main destinations of Russian seaborne coal exports during 2021. In a recent weekly note, shipbroker Banchero Costa said that “following a disastrous 2020, with the world hit by lockdowns and recession pretty much everywhere, global seaborne coal trade managed to rebound to some extent over the last 12 months. In the full 12 months of 2021, global seaborne coal exports increased by +4.5% y-o-y to 1168 mln tonnes, from 1117 mln tonnes in 2020, according to vessels tracking data from Refinitiv. This however is still well below the levels we had in pre-Covid times, being -9.8% down from the 1295 mln tonnes shipped during 2019.

According to the shipbroker, “the Russian Federation is the third largest exporter of coal in the world, after Australia and Indonesia. In 2021, Russia accounted for 15.2% of global seaborne coal shipments. Russia’s seaborne coal exports in the 12 months of 2021 increased by +9.6% y-o-y to 177.2 mln tonnes. This was a significantly rebound from a -6.5% y-o-y decline in 2020 caused by Covid lockdowns in Europe and elsewhere. Previous years also saw a positive trend, with Russian coal exports increasing by +5.1% y-o-y in 2019 and by +7.9% y-o-y in 2018”.