BEIJING: China’s thermal coal imports, including bituminous and sub-bituminous coal, dropped 41% on the year and were down 26% on the month in May at 6.48 million mt, according to the latest data from Beijing’s General Administration of Customs (GAC).
Australia exported 3.8 million mt of bituminous and sub-bituminous coal to China in May, down 18% on month, and down 21% on the year.
China’s imports of Indonesian thermal coal fell 40% from April and were down also 40% from a year ago at 1.84 million mt in May.
Thermal coal imports from Russia slumped 52% on year and down 16% on month at 0.78 million mt last month.
Over January-May, China imported a total of 36.14 million mt of bituminous and sub-bituminous coal and down 44% from the corresponding five-month period last year, data showed.
Top supplier Australia exported a total 18.61 million mt of thermal coal to China during January-May this year, down 22% from the year before.
Meanwhile, total imports of lignite dropped 32% from the previous year to 20.85 million mt during the same period, with May imports decreasing 29% on month to 3.54 million mt.
Imports from China’s top lignite coal supplier — Indonesia — stood at 19.48 million mt between January and May, down 32% on year.
