BEIJING: Chinese coking coal imports rose sharply in August amid thinning Chinese domestic coal supplies caused by government restrictions on production capacity, forcing many Chinese buyers into the seaborne market despite much higher prices. Coking coal imports into China during January-August were 37.9mn t, up by 17pc over the same period a year earlier, at 32.4mn t.
China imported 6.49mn t of coking coal in August, up by 45.4pc from July and by 56.4pc from the same month a year earlier. Australia was the origin of slightly less than half of all China’s imports with 3.15mn t in August, an increase of 28.5pc from July, China customs data show. Chinese coking coal imports from Mongolia were 2.15mn t in August, up by 36.4pc from the previous month. Shipments from Canada rose by 248.7pc month-on-month to 721,600t in August, as Canadian producers saw an arbitrage opportunity because of higher Australian import prices. Imports from Russia were 260,124t in August, up by 83.8pc from June.
Chinese met coke exports rose from the previous month at 957,489t in August, up by 25.3pc from the same month last year. Shipments to Brazil rose by 278.4pc month-on-month to 188,669t in August. Met coke exports to Japan were 278,208t last month, up by 45.4pc from July. The Argus spot price assessment for premium low-volatile hard coking coal averaged $113.57/t fob Australia in August, up from $95.40/t on the same basis in July.
