Global seaborne coal trade grows 4% in January-August

17-Sep-2018

Global coal shipments grew by 3.8% – or by 30.6m tonnes – during the first eight months of the year to 835.5m tonnes, shipbroker Arrow said on Friday, citing vessel tracking data.

“Growth was once again driven by strong demand from the Asia-Pacific countries, led by China and India,” it said in a note.

“Other developing countries in the region, such as Pakistan and Vietnam, also saw strong growth as their energy consumption continue to grow rapidly and they depend heavily on the coal-fired capacity for power generation”.

Imports into Pakistan were up by 45%, while Vietnam’s imports grew by 65%, according to Arrow estimates.

“Although domestic coal production in India grew by 8%, imports of thermal and coking coal also continued to rise rapidly,” the shipbroker said, adding imports were up by 15% – or 14.2m tonnes –in the first half of the year as power generation and steel output grew by a “robust” 5.3% and 5.1%, respectively.

“Chinese coal imports were also up sharply so far this year as demand from the power generation and steel industries remained strong, but domestic coal production dwindled,” it said, noting in the first eight months, imports including lignite were up by 14%, whereas raw coal production fall by nearly 3%.

Source: MONTEL