Japanese coking coal imports climb in August

1-Oct-2018

Japanese coking coal imports rose in August with more supplies secured from US producers.

Japan imported 5.93mn t of coking coal in August, up by 5.8pc from July. Imports in August also rose by 5pc against the same month last year, according to finance ministry data.

Australia remained the largest coking coal exporter to Japan in August with 2.92mn t, up by 5.9pc from July. Imports from Indonesia fell by 17.1pc month-on-month to 1.25mn t.

Japanese imports of US coking coal in August rose by 129.8pc from July to 594,184t, while imports from Canada fell by 45.9pc to 315,671t over the same period.

Shipments from Russia in August climbed by 44.1pc month-on-month to 315,671t, while imports from Colombia dropped by 69.1pc to 66,001t. Japan also imported 147,778t from Mozambique after not receiving any shipments since May.

The Argus assessment for premium hard low-volatile coking coal averaged $185.37/t fob Australia in August, little changed from the July average of $185.52/t.

Japanese metallurgical coke imports in August rose by 68.3pc from the previous month to 202,691t. China supplied 186,188t, while 15,014t came from South Korea.

Source: ARGUS