South African Coal Export Shipment plunges by 21% M-o-M in Feb'20

According to the vessel line-up data maintained with CoalMint research, South African non-coking coal export shipment from RBCT (Richards Bay Coal Terminal) port that handles country's maximum shipments, have recorded a dramatic drop of 21% M-o-M basis from 6.86 MnT in Jan'20 to 5.37 MnT in Feb'20.

Continuing the trend, India remains the topmost importer of South African coal that has imported 3.25 MnT in February against 4.19 MnT in the previous month of January, a drop of 21% m-o-m basis. This drop in Indian thermal coal imports from South Africa can be attributed to tepid domestic demand from the sponge iron sector - prime consumer of South African thermal coal. The overall steel demand in the India is currently facing a downtrend amid the seasonal slack towards the end of fiscal year in March along with the global slump caused amid the Coronavirus outbreak in China.

Following India, the next key importer of South African thermal coal is Pakistan which imported about 0.75 MnT of non-coking coal in Feb'20 against 0.93 MnT in Jan'20, registering a plunge of 20% m-o-m basis.

After Pakistan, Sri Lanka is the key South African coal importer of South African thermal coal. However, the country's thermal coal imports have registered a significant drop of 52% m-o-m basis in Feb as the country imported about 0.34 MnT during the month against 0.72 MnT in Jan'20. In case of Bangladesh that imported about 0.11 MnT of thermal coal from South Africa, there was 100% drop in the same in February month.

With the rising concerns over pollution especially in developed countries like Europe which was a major coal importer of South African coal, the latter is now focusing on Asian countries to supply its fossil fuel. However, the February month was especially dull for the global steel sector given the virus outbreak in China that has not only impacted the business in various other economies but has also caused disruptions in logistics. Amid tepid demand, the South African thermal coal export prices have registered a plunge of about 10% in time span of one month and as per the industry experts it is likely that the prices may fall further in the coming month ahead.