ANKARA: Turkey imported 3 million mt of bituminous thermal coal in December, bringing the total volume for 2015 up to 27.78 million mt, which rose 18% year on year to the highest annual volume since Platts records began in 2012, according to data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) published Friday.
The December volume was the highest monthly volume since Platts records began, climbing 16% on-year and increasing 14% from November, the data showed.
The largest importer of thermal coal during the year was Colombia at 11.02 million mt, rising 19% compared to 2014. During December, the country shipped 978,445 mt of thermal coal to Turkey, unchanged on the month and 2% higher than the same month in 2014.
Turkey received 10.55 million mt of thermal coal from Russia in 2015, jumping 25% year on year. Russia was the most popular origin of thermal coal for Turkey in December, shipping 1.39 million mt of material during the month, rising 66% on the year and up 22% from November, the TUIK data showed.
South African thermal coal shipments to Turkey in 2015 totaled 4.94 million mt increasing 24% from 2014. Turkey received 591,624 mt of South African material in December, increasing 72% from November, but falling 12% compared to December 2014.
Platts assessed the December monthly average of its CIF Turkey 6,000 kcal/kg NAR 90-day price at $44.70/mt, down $6.06 month on month. The weekly CIF Turkey 6,000 kcal/kg NAR price was assessed at $42.50/mt last Friday, edging 30 cents lower on the week.
Turkey’s total coking coal imports in December fell 36% on the year and also dropped 14% from November to 452,653 mt, bringing the annual 2015 volume to 5.4 million mt, stable on the year, according to the TUIK data.
During December, Turkey imported 395,151 mt of coking coal from Australia, 48,262 mt from Colombia and 9,240 mt from the US. Turkey’s December anthracite imports were at 95,293 mt, up 61% from November. Anthracite imports for 2015 totaled 718,118 mt compared to only 69 mt in 2014.
