BEIJING: China imported 4.89 million tonnes of coal from Australia in May, down 37.6 percent from the corresponding period last year, figures from the country’s customs authority showed on Tuesday. The figure was also down 25.9 percent from April, despite some predictions that imports would rise over the summer months to meet growing seasonal power demand.
Deliveries from China’s top coal supplier have fallen 27.5 percent over the first five months of the year, to 27.44 million tonnes, hit by slowing demand and a concerted government effort to cut air pollution and curb a supply glut. The General Administration of Customs data also showed that imports from Indonesia, China’s second biggest supplier, dropped 34.6 percent on the year to 1.86 million tonnes, with shipments over the first five months falling 47.2 percent.
Total imports, excluding lower-grade lignite, reached 10.7 million tonnes, down 43.3 percent compared to the same period of last year. From January to May, imports stood at 62.41 million tonnes, down 39.8 percent. May deliveries from North Korea, however, surged 38.71 percent to 1.82 million tonnes. And over the first five months, North Korea supplied 7.55 million tonnes, up 24.8 percent on the year and overtaking Russia to become China’s third biggest source of imported coal.
China has imposed restrictions on the import of lower-grade coal, a move that has lengthened inspections at Chinese ports and persuaded many traders to shift to alternative markets. Thermal power plants in southern regions usually start buying more coal from overseas during summer months because local transportation bottlenecks and rising domestic freight charges make imports cheaper, but analysts say the price gap has now been eliminated. They are also facing greater competition from hydropower plants this year.
Nation-wide stockpiles currently stand at more than 300 million tonnes, and coal freight volumes have fallen for nine consecutive months, according to figures from the China Coal Transportation and Distribution Association. Chinese coal output in May reached 309.39 million tonnes, down 6.1 percent from a year ago, with production over January-May down 6 percent to 1.46 billion tonnes. Benchmark thermal coal prices at the port of Qinhuangdao remained unchanged at 415 yuan ($66.86) per tonne last week, down more than 20 percent since the start of the year.
