Australia: North Queensland's Coal Throughput Dips to 13-Month Low in March
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Total throughput via the three key Australian coal terminals operated by North Queensland Bulk Ports Corporation (NQBP), Northwest Australia, dropped to 13-month low of 10.7 million tonnes, down further by 2.8% on month or 14.6% on year, according to the company's latest data, which was mainly due to the weakening in global coal demand and the interruption of shipment last month.
The three terminals, comprising Abbot Point, Hay Point Coal Terminal and Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal in Queensland, only handle coal in commodity service for now, with most for exports, and Dalrymple Bay was the largest, handling about 5 million tonnes of coal in March.
Table: Coal Shipments from the Three Terminals in Queensland in March
| Terminal | Throughput (Unit: MnT) | M-o-M (%) | Y-o-Y (%) |
| Abbot Point | 2.42 | -16.2 | -7.6 |
| Hay Point Coal Terminal | 3.29 | -3 | -29 |
| Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal | 5 | -5.5 | -5.2 |
| TOTAL | 10.72 | -2.8 | -14.6 |
Souce: NQBP
"Global coal demand has begun to slide since March as many countries have had to impose lockdowns with the worsening of the pandemic worldwide, which has seriously hurt global economy", a Shanghai-based analyst.
"Specifically, coal shipments from the key Queensland ports were low over early-mid of last month, though the volume picked up moderately late March", he observed.
Maritime Safety Queensland announced on March 18 a 14-day quarantine on all international commercial ships that arrive at Queensland, while the impact on its commodity shipment would be limited, Mysteel Global understood.
The tepid global demand since March saw seaborne coal price decline, and over March 2-31, Mysteel's coking coal price for premium low-volatile hard coking coal plunged by $16.5/tonne to $156.5/t CFR North China.
Besides, "the cyclone in mid-March that swept Northeast Australia also forced the three key terminals in Queensland to idle operation for several days, which impacted coal shipment too", the analyst added.
Queensland is one of the largest coal mining states in Australia, and most of coal exported via the three terminals in North Queensland was metallurgical coal, and for 2019, their total metallurgical coal throughput added up to 146.7 million tonnes, according to NQBP data. Queensland exported a total of 214 million tonnes of all kinds of coal, accounting for 54% of Australia's total coal exports with 72% being metallurgical coal, according to official data.
N.B.: This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between SteelMint and Mysteel Global -- a China-centric insight and global metal markets intelligence providing company.
