Coal import data for September by origin has been released and shows that imports from Indonesia have remained China’s primary source and Russia the second largest source. Imports from Indonesia totaled 20.7 million tons, which is up from August by 4.9 million tons (31%) but down year-on-year by 700,000 tons (-3%).
Imports from Russia totaled 7 million tons, which is down from August by 1.5 million tons (-18%) but up year-on-year by 1.2 million tons (21%). Imports from Russia have remained strong this year, as we have anticipated, in the months since April’s tariff cut (thermal coal imports from Russia previously had a 6% tariff, while imports from Indonesia already had a tariff rate of zero). The last five months have seen imports from Russia average 6.8 million tons, which is double the 3.4 million ton monthly average that was seen this year before the tariff cut.
No coal was imported from the Philippines last month. This has marked the first month in several years that no coal was imported from the Philippines. Also of note is that no coal was imported from South Africa or Colombia. September has marked the eighth straight month where no coal was imported from South Africa and the seventh straight month where no coal was imported from Colombia. Imports from Australia also totaled only 100,000 tons last month.