Canada’s Ridley Terminals coal exports fall to nine-month low in October

19-Nov-2019

Coal exports from Ridley Terminals in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, totaled 538,486 mt in October, down 11.3% from September and the lowest level since 454,562 mt exported in February, according to data from the Prince Rupert Port Authority released Friday.

However, the total, which combines metallurgical and thermal coal, was up 11.9% from the year-ago month.

For the first 10 months of the year, 6.44 million mt of coal has been shipped out of the terminal, up 31.4% from the same period a year ago and the highest for the corresponding time period since 9.17 million mt in 2013.

Met coal exports from the terminal totalled 292,570 mt in October, down 31.8% from September but up 22.5% from the same month last year. It was the lowest monthly total for met exports in 2018.

For the year so far, met coal exports total 4.63 million mt, up 41% from the same period a year ago and the highest since 2013.

Thermal coal exports in October totalled 245,916 mt, up 38.3% from September and up 1.4% from the year-ago month. It was the second highest monthly total in the last 20 months, only behind 411,415 mt in July, which was a three-year high.

For the year, thermal exports totalled 1.8 million mt, up 12% from the same period last year.

The terminal, the closest major North American coal export terminal to Asia, is served by Canadian National railroad. The largest customer is Conuma Coal Resources, a met coal producer in British Columbia.

Source: S&P PLATTS GLOBAL