China: Coking coal imports surge 23% m-o-m in Nov'24, hit record high

• Nov witnesses higher intake from Australia, Mongolia, Canada
  
  
• Mongolian, Australian prices dive in Nov, lifting China's imports
  
  

Mysteel Global: China's total imports of coking coal from all origins increased by 23% m-o-m in November to reach a record monthly high of 12.3 million tonnes (mnt), according to the latest data released by the country's General Administration of Customs on 20 December. The total was also higher by 24% from November last year.

Additionally, over the first eleven months of the year, China's imports of coking coal from all sources totalled 111.54 mnt, jumping by 23% from the year-ago period.

Import volumes recorded a m-o-m rebound in November, following a continuous fall over the past three months. The increase can be attributed to notably higher intakes from Mongolia, Australia and Canada.

To illustrate, shipments from Mongolia, China's top coking coal supplier, rebounded by 32.7% in November from the eight-month low logged in October to stand at 5.22 mnt. That meant that Mongolian coking coal accounted for 42.4% of China's total imports of the commodity in the same month, widening from October's share of 39.5%.

The m-o-m increase was mainly driven by accelerated imports by leading Chinese trading houses through major China-Mongolia border ports, which aimed to meet annual import targets for 2024. This was despite the fact that sluggish purchasing by Chinese end-users has kept border coal stocks accumulating to record highs.

The excessive supply continued weighing on Mongolian coking coal prices last month. For example, prices of Mongolian 5# washed primary coking coal (ash < 10.5%, VM < 28%, sulphur < 0.75%, GRI > 78, Mt < 8, CSR > 60%) at North China's Tangshan city were assessed by Mysteel on 29 November to be lower by RMB 110/t ($15.1/t) from RMB 1,540/t a month ago (on ex-stock basis and with VAT).

Similarly, Australian coking coal deliveries to China in November jumped by 35.1% m-o-m to 1.8 mnt, the highest since January 2022 and also higher by 840.3% y-o-y, according to the GACC data. Parallelly, the share of Australian cargoes rose to 14.6% of China's total imports in November, up from October's 13.4% share.

Contributing to the elevated imports of Australian coking coal was the fact that some Chinese trading firms had quickened procurements in early November, which coincided with the fact that Australian coal prices were at the year's lowest that month.

However, Chinese end-users did not rush to book more tonnages of Australian coal last month, according to sources. They cited reduced hot metal production at domestic blast-furnace mills as well as the soured market sentiment.

Shipments from Canada last month also soared by 105.6% m-o-m to 849,000 tonnes (t) and were higher by 109.8% compared with the year-ago level.

Deliveries of coking coal to China from Indonesia, typically a major exporter of thermal coal, jumped by 185% from October to 453,000 t last month, also up by 72% on a y-o-y basis.

By contrast, imports from Russia, the second-largest supplier of coking coal for China last month, stayed largely flat m-o-m at 2.56 mnt, though still higher by 33% y-o-y.

China's imports of coking coal from the US in November retreated by 11% m-o-m to 1.2 mnt. However, this was higher by 60% y-o-y.

Note: This article has been written in accordance with a content exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and BigMint.