South Korea: Coking coal imports decline 8% in H1CY'21

South Korean coking coal imports have totaled 9.76 million tonnes (mn t) in the first half of this year (Jan'21-Jun'21), down by 8.2% compared with 10.63 mn t during the corresponding period of last year (Jan'20-Jun'20).

However, South Korea had imported 1.61 mn t of coking coal in Jun'21, up by 18.9% m-o-m as against 1.35 mn t in May'21, according to the latest customs data compiled by CoalMint.

Moreover, the country's coking coal imports were also higher by 4.3% y-o-y in Jun'21, contrasted with 1.54 mn t in Jun'20.

Major Coal Exporters to South Korea in Jan-Jun'21:

Australia, Canada, Russia and the United States have traditionally been the largest exporters of coking coal to South Korea. These four countries typically supply about 95% of South Korea's imported coking coal in any given period of time.

South Korean coking coal imports from Australia were recorded at 0.53 mn t in Jun'21, lower by 13.7% m-o-m from 0.61 mn t in May'21, but higher by 33.0% y-o-y from 0.40 mn t in Jun'20.

In the first six months of 2021, South Korea imported 4.18 mn t of coking coal from Australia during January-May, 6.0% higher when compared to the same period a year ago.

Meanwhile, the country saw its coking coal imports from Canada and Russia increasing by 22% and 11% respectively in the year to date.

Notably, US coking coal exports to South Korea witnessed a substantial drop of almost 45% to 84,887 t in Jun'21, as against 0.15 mn t in Jun'20.

The following table provides a detailed breakup of shipment volumes from the exporting countries.

Korean steel export demand loss weighing on coking coal import demand

South Korean spot demand for seaborne coking coal had been dampened by steel output curtailments, due to depressed end-user demand and mounting finished steel inventories with production scaled back as the pandemic ravaged downstream demand for steel products.

Construction and manufacturing activities have remained relatively slow in the past few months, while automotive-grade steel demand has collapsed following a sharp contraction in vehicle sales.

Even at present the South Korean steel sector continues facing margin pressure from weakening demand and high raw material costs in the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak.

Reduced demand for Korean exports of steel is of particular concern as Korea's shipbuilding and automobile export industries have been adversely impacted by the pandemic and global economic slowdown.